A distinctive and historic Boise home could soon be on the chopping block after Boise-based Cook Brothers Construction applied for a permit in April to demolish the vintage but fire-damaged Nathan Smith House at 2315 S. Broadway Ave.
If you’ve driven down Broadway Avenue in the last 125 years, you’d likely recognize the white house across the street from Pioneer Federal Credit Union and southwest of the Broadway Park Shopping Center. The 1900-built home, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is decked out in stones gathered from the Boise River and flanked by a large lawn.
Mature trees filled the property until crews began construction on 15 townhouses and a single-family home around the house. During construction, a fire began in the basement when a worker used a battery-powered grinding tool on a wood cabinet…