This house was built in 1941. It is a mixture between a classic bungalow style home and a Cape Cod, with symmetrical features including shuttered windows that frame the entrance on the front side of the house that has an overhang not usually seen in Cape Cod style homes. The house also has a detached garage in the back by an alleyway, which is common for houses built in this time period. It was also remodeled in 1995. The remodeled area was added onto the back, and is a sort of hexagon shape that has a bay window.
The remodeled area is the kitchen place now. The current owners are in the midst of doing their own remodeling, due to the unsatisfactory workmanship done in the nineties to that area. It is hard to tell from inside of the house that the back part is actually in the shape of a hexagon. The old kitchen and dining area was turned into part of the living room. In the middle of the living room, there is a vent which hints that there used to be a wall there.
The current owner said that she suspects that there was an earlier remodel than the ’95 remodel, because of how the vent is placed. When looking at the floor, the vent, and the walls, it is easy to see how a wall could have run right behind the vent, intersecting the wall that is now part of the current hallway. It is said that if you stand a step or two next to the vent, you will feel completely at peace. The owners say that this is because of how the air conditioning, light, and atmosphere of the house all nicely collect together in that one spot.
While there have been quite a few remodels to the house over the years, there are still some original pieces of the house, such as the white cabinets, the doorbell, the front door knocker, and the door handles. All of these small features are of the same kind of brass, and many of the door handles have charming dents in them that add to the cozy, lived in feeling of this east end home.
The house also has an unfinished basement, much like many older houses in the Boise area. The fireplace is a beautiful addition to the middle of the living room. Its white wood, parallel brick rows, and original brass ornaments are an interesting and somewhat colonial feeling feature of the house. The detached garage is of similar style to the house, classic and no nonsense. It does, however, boast a beautiful, vintage weather vane on top.
While the weather vane may attract those who are interested in old fashioned architectural ornaments, the garage’s walls are an attraction for graffiti taggers, much to the dismay of the current residents.
The house sits next to a home that may have been similar in shape and structure at one point. The owners of the house next door to 1314 have supposedly lived there since the sixties, and also own the empty lot on the other side of 1314.
The neighbor’s house may have once been a Cape Cod style house, but looks to have had some renovations as well, taking away the symmetry and other characteristics of a cape cod and giving its own sense of style. From what has been gathered from city records, a Wm.O. Bradford was the first to live in the house. The two possibilities for this man’s identity are a Wm. Oral Bradford, or William Oral Bradford.
The first Bradford was found in an 1894 Michigan census from the Blaine Township. The second Bradford, and more likely occupant of the house, was married in 1928 in Utah and later on in his life taught radio for Boise Junior College in Boise. He also supervised the National Youth Administration program for radio education in the Western states. It is not known when Mr. and Mrs. Bradford moved out of Idaho to Maryland. Mr. Bradford passed away in May of 2001.