The idea to remodel the President’s House has been around since 2013, but its demolition on Sept. 27 paved the way for a completely new house.
“Since 2013, we’ve been looking at building a new house and we’ve gone through a couple of different processes,” said Dan Ewart, vice president of infrastructure.
The last house was built in the ‘60s and served primarily as a residence for the University of Idaho President. It also served as a venue for meetings and gatherings with visitors to the university. However, UI Head of Communications Jodi Walker said the failure to balance those purposes was a factor in the replacement.
“We want a place that is primarily a residence, but also has open space to host guests to the university,” Walker said.
The architect specially designed the layout of the new university house to balance those purposes. The entryway has room to accommodate large groups and the garage fits three cars. The rest of the house is a comfortable living space for the president. The house displays modern architecture rather than the suburban style of the ‘60s and will cover a total of 6000 square feet.
The new house was also designed to fit within a budget approved by the State Board of Education of $1.95 million. To save money, the foundation of the old house will be reused as well as some features saved before the demolition, such as bricks and a pair of Basque doors.
The University of Idaho Foundation is covering the cost of the construction.
The process of remodeling has been ongoing for four years. Initially, the idea was just to renovate the existing house, but it was not cost effective. There were several iterations of designs for a new house, but none of them were quite right.
“One of them came back with something we couldn’t afford, and we really didn’t want to repeat that,” Ewart said.
Instead, once the budget was approved by the state, the university openly issued a Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFP included a brief statement of the building’s purpose and the budget. Several designs were submitted, and eventually one design was selected.
“Really, it’s about which team was best able to explain to us the vision of what they saw as a university house, and what kind of things were very important within that, and then of course how we could do that within the budget,” Ewart said on selecting the final design. “It’s a combination of finances and vision, but the bigger part was definitely vision.”
Golis Construction of Moscow and Zimmerray Studios of Seattle are the construction companies and architects responsible for the new house. Both, coincidentally, are run by UI alumni.
Now that the old house is demolished, the next step is to pour new footings. Landscaping will follow that. Next, the frame will be built. Ewart said he hopes to have this done before inclement weather prevents progress. During the winter, work will continue inside and outside as weather permits. The goal is to have a move-in ready home by fall 2018 for the president and his family, Ewart said.
“The future, it really is about providing a home for the current and future presidents of our institutions in which they can be successful. That, to me, is what this is all about,” Ewart said. “Future presidents will hopefully look at this home as a wonderful asset and as a reason to come and be the president of this university. And, President Staben and his wife will hopefully look at it as a wonderful place to live while Chuck is doing his presidency. If they do that, I think that’s a very successful project.”
D. Michael Austin can be reached at [email protected]