In early April of 1965, Eldon and Melva Amos finalized a mortgage with the Capitol Title Co. in the amount of $27,000. A few days later, James Meyers sold the Amos Family their new home on Wyndemere Drive. James Meyers and Meyers Builders Inc. had earlier acquired the lot from The Highlands Inc. and constructed the house. Meyers, a native of Ohio, began working as a carpenter for a contractor following his service in World War II. In 1954 he founded Meyers Builders Inc. which was known for the construction of several brick homes and apartments throughout Boise?s North End.
While no specific architect can be credited with the design of the Amos House, elements of the home reference many aspects of fashionable post-war architectural trends. These trends are exhibited in the home?s rectilinear massing, shallow, cross-gabled roofs with deep eaves, clerestory windows which provide privacy for the street-facing elevations, and integration of both brick and board and batten siding. In particular, the asymmetrical gable of the garage with its exposed beams, brick wall surfaces which partially or fully cover the primary elevations, and recessed entryway with glass sidelights and colorful spandrel panels, are indicative of mid-century stylistic hallmarks.
Eldon Amos was born in Missouri in 1920 but moved with his family to Castleford, Idaho in 1929. After graduation from Castleford High School, Amos joined the 116th Engineers of the Idaho Army National Guard. He saw active duty in the Pacific Theater until 1945. He married Melva Driesel, a native of Oklahoma, in December of 1945 and they moved to Pocatello, Idaho where Eldon attended Idaho State University?s College of Pharmacy. He graduated in 1951 and after short periods in Richland, Washington and Hailey, Idaho, Eldon and Melva and their two children moved to Boise in 1959. He worked for other pharmacists before opening the Amos Idaho Drug store on Main Street. As early as 1962, the family lived on Ranch Road in the Lower Highlands before purchasing their new house in the Upper Highlands in 1965. The couple divorced in 1973 and Melva died in 1975. Eldon later remarried before dying in 1990.
This home was on the 11th Annual Heritage Home Tour in 2013, thanks to the generosity of current homeowners Michelle Crist and Eian Harm.