The Ancil and Mattie Carley House was constructed in 1909 and is an example of the American Foursquare residential architectural style. This style was tailored to relatively narrow lots and allowed more square footage in a small footprint. A reaction to the overly embellished architecture of the Victorian age, design elements of the Foursquare typically include a two-and-a-half story massing, simple box shape, low hipped roof with deep eaves and exposed rafter tails, and a central dormer. These elements, as well as a full-width hip-roofed porch with square posts and clapboard siding that flares where it meets the sandstone foundation are represented here.
Ancil Carley was born in Ontario, Canada in 1866 and married Mattie Nixon in North Dakota when he was 20. They moved to Boise in 1909 and immediately purchased a lot on Harrison Boulevard for $1,100. By August, the Carleys had moved into their new house. Their daughter Alice, an acclaimed operatic singer who performed with national companies, was married at the house in 1913. Beginning in 1919, Ancil worked as a salesman for the Occidental Life Insurance Company of California. He claimed to have sold more than $6,000,000 worth of insurance during his career. The Carleys sold their home in 1929 but soon built a new house at 1610 Harrison Boulevard in 1936 where they lived until their deaths.
Wilbur and Nelle Vincent purchased the house from the Carleys for $6,500. A Kansas native, Wilbur Ddwain Vincent enjoyed a long and successful career at every level of the educational field. Vincent taught at rural and urban schools in Kansas where he also served as assistant principal and superintendent. Upon relocation to Idaho in 1909, he led the Blackfoot school system before working as the president and manager of the Idaho Industrial Training School at St. Anthony. He moved to Boise in 1927 when he was appointed Idaho Commissioner of Education, a post he held for six years. In 1933 he was hired as superintendent of the Boise school system and he was later elected to three terms in the Idaho legislature. Wilbur and Nelle Vincent sold their Harrison Boulevard home in the early 1950s.
This home was featured on the 12th Annual Heritage Homes Tour in 2014 thanks to the generosity of the current homeowner Jon Cox.