With its mix of architectural influences from the late Victorian and Craftsman eras, the Adlore Changnon House of 1897 is a contributory structure in the Ridge Avenue Historic District, a National Register-listed neighborhood near downtown Idaho Falls.
Constructed by Israel Vonboncoeur, a French Canadian mason who built other homes in the region, the house was one of the first in Idaho Falls built east of the railroad in what would become the city?s most fashionable residential district of the period.
The house, built of locally-quarried grey sandstone was later altered with the construction of the front porch in the second decade of the Twentieth Century. By 2009, decades of decline and conversion into six apartments had left the building vulnerable when it was acquired by the Carr Foundation for use by the Museum of Idaho.
Though relatively unaltered on the exterior, the foundation of the house had begun to crumble and was quickly replaced as was the roof. The interior was renovated for contemporary use, and exterior details repaired or reconstructed under the direction of Jill Hansen and Darren Gardner.
Local preservationists hope this will be just the start of a neighborhood revitalization and Preservation Idaho believes the project well deserves this 2012 Orchid Award for Contribution to Historic Preservation.