Who will determine the fate of this architectural ‘icon’ in Eagle?

Driving through Eagle, it’s easy to miss the city’s most picturesque structure: a bucolic one-and-a half-story cottage on the corner of W Aikens Road and South Eagle Road that has stood the test of time for nearly a century as the Boise suburb around it dramatically changed.

Now the future of the property is a little uncertain.

Commissioned by Orville and Floy Jackson in 1932 and designed by renowned Boise architects Tourtellotte and Hummel, the Jackson House is considered the most important landmark in the city, according to Mayor Brad Pike.

“The house and the property has been an icon in our community, and we want to ensure that it remains that way,” Pike told the Idaho Statesman, “but we also want to give someone the opportunity to make thoughtful use of it and the surrounding property.”

The city of Eagle purchased the house and property in front of it in 2021 from longtime owner Sharon Sharp for $1.05 million to ensure its preservation. About a month later, the city purchased the land behind it from Sharp’s daughter for $1 million. A deed restriction over the front property prevents the house from being moved or demolished — and if it were, the property would be returned to the Sharp family.

However, the property behind the house, which includes a grove of trees, technically could be leveled and developed for any purpose.

The Eagle Urban Renewal Agency now has raised its hand to buy all of the property and direct any future sales, while preserving the house and much of the land it sits on.

“As an urban renewal agency, we have more ability to control developers in the sense and what they do than the city,” said Mark Butler, chairman of the Eagle Urban Renewal Agency. “We have more leeway per statute.”

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, after the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office determined it was a noteworthy example of Tudor English architecture. Its exposed brickwork, cedar shingles, antique leaded glass, oak floors, hand‐hewn ceiling beams and hand wrought‐iron banisters are the epitome of the style, according to Butler.

“Many of the old-timers have tears in their eyes as they see Eagle changing,” Butler told the Statesman, “and this is one of the most significant pieces of Eagle’s past that’s still there.”

At Tuesday night’s Eagle Urban Renewal Agency board meeting, Butler made the case that the agency, and not the city, should be managing any future sale or activity on the property.

“The whole concept was to acquire both pieces, preserve that house, which had a lot of history, preserve the land in front of the house and over on the side, over to the drain, which is beautiful, to a beautiful memorial to the medics of war,” Butler explained.

Orville Jackson was a medic in World War I. Butler described a future memorial that would include statues of American military medics to commemorate the nation’s men and women in uniform.

A reuse survey in 2025 showed that Eagle residents were split over what direction the city should take with the property, but officials have set upon an ambitious plan to expand accessibility for drivers in the growing city, which has seen its population jump from around 20,000 in 2010 to 35,000 now.

The city has planned to use a portion of the back half of the property to build a street that would connect Formerly Park Road off of State Street to the intersection in front of Walgreens on Eagle Road, a move officials say would ease the traffic congestion on both arterial roads in the process. The project is expected to cost $1.9 million, split between the city and the renewal agency, and the design phase is largely completed, according to Butler.

All that remains is to purchase a small parcel of land from the property Walgreens sits on so that the road can be built, the city said.

“We have the best interests of the city in mind. A developer may not,” Butler said. “This purchase would help us ensure that the most eye-catching building in town and the land it sits on remains beautiful and integral to this community for decades.”

The URA told the Statesman that their attorney is preparing a letter of intent that will be presented to their board for approval on July 21, and if ratified, submitted to Eagle at the next City Council meeting.