Immigrant Pass House

Most the information on this home has been lost although we still have the architecture and form standing for us to appreciate. Entirely outfitted in neutral tones the Immigrant Pass House was meant to have a subtle earthly look like the natural materials that have been incorporated into it. With most of the houses face being crusted over in local sandstone from table rock and stacked on top of one another like layered sediment this home is a one of a kind multilevel home. Upon entering it is immediately noticed that the sandstone has also seeped inside the house to form a fireplace that beams between the ground floor and second level. A couple other contributing features that happen to accentuate the house are its peculiarly wide front door as well the rough unstained wooden shingles that guard it from the brutal seasons. An older home approximately built in the ’80s it has survived some recent remodeling with a small scar to show for it. The current tenants jokingly claim they are cursed to reside in a home with a hole the ceiling no matter where they move to; they had a hole in their ceiling in their last home from water damage due to an unseen leaking pipe. The hole sits right above a transitioning breezeway in the spacious ground floor living room. This house in truth has 3 quite large living rooms, each on a different level leaving all the bedrooms squeezed onto the top floor making for close living quarters. On the basement level (living room 1) The father in this household has claimed this room as his own, transforming it from a library (previous owners) into an at home bar, complete with pool table, bar table, and refrigerator. He and his son have also outfitted the room with artworks of their own to give it a finished feeling since most of the walls in the house are still bare from the recent move into Boise. This room also has some installed spot lights aimed at the dart board as well as an over hanging light for the pool table, also accompanied by an array or neon lights.
Some of the remodeled features here happen to be that all the bathrooms have matching oval mirrors. The main floors bathroom sink has been completely taken out and replaced with a white column base; the up stairs bathrooms have both had their counter tops retiled and the common baths shower has also been retiled. Each of the bedrooms upstairs also seemed to have corresponding full-length mirror closet doors, which is another interesting aspect of the house.
The kitchen is located on the second level accompanied only by a very open living room and small dining room. For such a spaciously designed home it was outfitted with an abnormally small kitchen and no food pantry. The new tenants claim that it?s an adjustment from their previous one and have been forced to retire most of their dishes and cook wear to salvation army and other donation providers because they have such a small amount of storage inside.
Outside however there is more than enough for a multitude of purposes. Half the back yard has been ripped up and covered over in sand and rock to make a small tiki lounge for the summer weather. Keeping half the grassy yard makes for a quick mow and still leaves the dogs some soft ground to wrestle on. Each side of the house has quite a bit of room for storage also as displayed on one of the photos, which also doubles as a closed dog run when the family is away from the premises.
Located near the relatively newly developed Columbia Village and Surprise Valley this home preserves a plan developed to blend in the average home with the local terrain. Taking advantage of available space for private or appointed uses (dog run, sand pit) displays the resourceful land management distribution. Using many natural materials repeatedly and neutral colors to blend together cohesively this house acts as a great reminder to the older dry plains and cliffs that use to sit near by. Overall this house easily shows that there?s more than meets the eye when glancing at a home in the Boise area.