The historic 1910 Averyl Building, now home to The Avery Hotel, has undergone a remarkable transformation. Originally the Boz Theater and Hotel Manitou, this Renaissance Revival Style building had fallen into disrepair over the last 60 years. The recent restoration project, a collaborative effort by all three principals of Carver Thornton Young (CTY), has brought new life to this Boise landmark. Dwaine Carver was the design lead on the project, working closely with owners, Chef Cal Elliott, Ms. Ashley Elliott, and Mr. Mike Hormachea to establish the overall vision for the hotel. Elizabeth Young, CTY’s preservation specialist, acted as the liaison between historic consultants and governmental agencies, handling applications and entitlements to ensure compliance with preservation standards. Rob Thorton managed design development, blueprints, and construction, serving as both project manager and project architect through to the project’s completion.
The combined efforts and expertise of Dwaine, Elizabeth, and Rob were crucial to the successful restoration of The Avery Hotel. Key efforts included restoring the masonry, repairing the roof, and installing new windows that match the original design. The project also preserved historic interior features such as the winding staircase and the original elevator core.
The renovation reestablished the building’s hotel use, with the first-floor housing a new bar and restaurant, and the upper floors featuring boutique hotel rooms. By retaining and restoring historical elements while meeting modern standards, the project exemplifies excellence in historic preservation and successfully integrates the building’s storied past with contemporary needs. This project meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, the highest benchmark for the treatment of historic buildings. Taking advantage of federal historic preservation tax incentives, this project reactivates one of the last remaining vacant historic buildings in downtown Boise.
The Avery Hotel stands as a testament to the successful collaboration between preservationists, architects, and developers, making it a deserving recipient of an Orchid Award in Excellence in Historic Preservation in 2024.
Written by PI for the 2024 Orchid Awards ceremony
More history:
This site along Main Street in Boise has a varied and interesting past and reflects much of Boise’s early 20th century history. It also reflects the rise and fall of downtown Boise through it’s disuse and decay, while only recently bouncing back to reinvigorate Main Street, as seen in the above nomination for the new Avery Hotel. Here is some of the interesting history of this site as reported by a number of sources.
In 1890, the first building on the site housed The Havana Club and an obituary of a former bartender at the later named Bouquet references this name as a substitute for the Bouquet which occupied the site in the later quarter of the 20th century. It is uncertain what happened to this building.
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination form from 1980 reports that the Tinner (sic) Building was constructed and in 1906, housed the Granada Theater, one of Boise’s growing number of theaters of the day. This building burned down sometime before 1910.
In 1910 Averyl Tiner(?) Building was constructed and housed The Boz Theater on the first floor and the Manitou Hotel on the top three floors. The NRHP form claims that “the New Boz Theater (which had been located somewhere else in 1909) was lauded as the largest and the best moving picture theater in the world boasting a concealed ventilation system and luxurious seating.” Another source claims “Prior to opening, the theater was described as having a seating capacity for 600 people. According to a 1910 Idaho Statesman article, ‘no expense will be spared in the equipment and all modern ideas will be used.’ In 1910, owner Fred W. Bossner would be one of several local theater owners who would defy Boise’s Sunday rest laws which forbad ‘any theater, playhouse, dance-house, [or] concert saloon’ to remain open. Bossner argued that moving picture shows were not technically on the list of banned amusements. But the State Supreme Court ruled otherwise.” In 1915, the theater was renamed The Strand Theater. Then, in 1930, the Granada name returned to the theater.
As for the Hotel Manitou, the NRHP form describes it this way: “The Manitou Hotel occupied the upper three floors and was supplied with a marble staircase, an Otis electric elevator, maple hardwood floors, hot water heating, running hot and cold water in every room and private baths; all of this was very modern.” Boiseans have been reminded that the Hotel occupied this space by the “ghost” sign that still exists up on the side of the brick wall of the building. The Hotel had quite a reputation over the years with sources claiming that it housed brothels, gambling rooms, and a variety of accommodations, much of it declining over the decades after World War II. Eventually, both the theater on the first floor and the Hotel were closed in the 1960s. The NRHP form mentions that after the Hotel closed, the space was occupied by the Bazaar Department Store until 1975, when the Blues Bouquet took over the space.
Boiseans are probably most familiar with the building housing the “famous” Blues Bouquet, a music site, saloon, and local establishment. The history of the “Bouquet” is a fun and interesting read, helping establish much of a certain part of Boise history. Elizabeth Couchum describes this history on her webpage about the Bouquet this way:
The Blues Bouquet or The Bouquet has been a part of the Boise Main Street landscape when it started out in 1906 with owners Joe Welch and Tom Clark and was originally located on 711 Main Street behind the Overland Buffett. The bar was then called The Bouquet Bar Wines & Liquors Domesticated & Imported Cigars. In 1910 the bar was moved to 821 Main Street, shortening it’s name at this time to The Bouquet Fountain.
During a statewide prohibition from 1916 to 1933, The Bouquet was up and running and the bar was in the middle of what was known as the Light District or Gambling District. During this time, an article in the Idaho Weekly in 1947 indicated that this area of downtown Boise attracted a broad spectrum of visitors, ranging from state officials, local men, “bums”, tourists and local working men around the valley. Since The Bouquet was deemed a “respectable place” among the pool halls and saloons, visitors who were in Boise to perform at the Morrison-Knudson theater would make it a point to visit The Bouquet.
In the early 1970s, Boise downtown went through an urban renewal. The Bouquet was the last of the downtown businesses to move from its old site at 821 Main St. to its current location. The owner at the time, Al Berro, bought the building at 1010 Main St. and renovated it. The paneling was redone to match the mahogany bar, the main attraction of The Bouquet. In an article for The Idaho Statesman, a local newspaper dated March 25, 1975, Al Berro, gave an interview about the process of moving into the building that month. “It was like a jackpot,” Berro explained. “They found a 1900 half-dollar, a 1921 phone directory, old German coins and other things that had fallen behind the bar.” When the The Bouquet moved into its new location, it was called The Bouquet Bar and Cigar Sportsman’s Center and The Havana Club Restaurant. The owner, Berro, wanted to honor the first restaurant at this site and added the name, The Havana Club.
The main attraction and a source of confusion about The Bouquet has always been the mahogany bar. A massive, Brunswick mahogany bar that is 40 foot long is “part of The Bouquet bar’s mystique is the fact that nobody seems to know for sure which Boise saloon it was originally built for.” One of the stories that Al Berro was told is that The Bouquet mahogany bar was on the first floor at the Overland Buffett and then moved to The Bouquet in 1906 while it was located at 711 Main St. One of the mahogany bars that also has many stories was bought by the Idaho Historical Auxiliary in 1966 for $3,000.00.
Flash forward to 2012, Tyson Twilegar, who currently owns The Bouquet, sat down to have a cup of coffee with me and to talk about the brief history of The Bouquet and its mahogany bar. “The upstairs of the Avery Hotel was a brothel and downstairs was a speakeasy. The back of the bar was a Brunswick that was made in Boston 1901 and it was shipped to San Francisco in 1902. Then the bar was brought to Boise and it was installed in the Overland Buffett, and later it was installed at [old Bouquet location] 711 Main St. When it was moved from old Bouquet it was in seven pieces and taken to where Bouquet is now at 1010 Main and downtown Boise was closed off so the bar can be moved.”
For now, The Bouquet, is closed. An article in The Idaho Statesman, dated February 21, 2012 states, “A “Notice of Trustee’s Sale” has been posted on the doors of The Bouquet, 1010 Main St., indicating that the building is being foreclosed upon.” Though there have been rumors, there was no indication from Twilegar when The Bouquet will reopen or if there will be a new owner.
Now Boise has a new and exciting occupant in this historic building! The Avery Hotel will hopefully represent the long and fun history of this part of Main Street and help revitalize the block, as it once was a center of Boise entertainment. Preservation Idaho is happy to honor The Avery Hotel with the Orchid Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation.
Sources:
https://theclio.com/entry/171375
https://ccdcboise.com/ccdc-projects/1010-w-main-street-the-avery-hotel/
https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/4981
https://elizamay52site.wordpress.com/the-bouquet/
https://icris-history.idaho.gov/fa366284-c75a-4b29-a9a1-1a95b229b694
https://liteonline.com/20-amazing-photos-of-boise-hotels-from-1910-1980s/