SAH Archipedia Wins Cultural Heritage Preservation Award from Preservation Idaho

Preservation Idaho, also known as the Idaho Historic Preservation Council, has honored the Society of Architectural Historians with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Award for “for creating an accessible and comprehensive website of Idaho’s architectural history” with SAH Archipedia’s recently published Classic Buildings of Idaho. The award honors educational programs and projects that have made a positive impact toward the preservation of cultural heritage and open spaces.

SAH will be honored at Preservation Idaho’s 42^nd Annual Orchids & Onions Awards ceremony on June 8, 2019, in Moscow, Idaho. Supported in part by the Idaho Humanities Council, the awards program “celebrates those individuals and organizations that have made a positive contribution to historic preservation, and in turn, to bring awareness to those projects which have shown an insensitivity to historic preservation.” 

A team of local architectural historians wrote, photographed, and mapped the recently published collection of 119 Idaho building entries. Professor Anne Marshall, Professor Emeritus Wendy McClure, Associate Professor Phillip Mead and Associate Professor Emeritus D. Nels Reese, all from the University of Idaho, led the team in selecting structures that represent a variety of types, styles, and construction dates to demonstrate the breadth and diversity of architecture in the state.

Buildings in the collection include the Renaissance Art Center (1920) in Rupert, Eagle Creek House (1999) in Ketchum, Coeur d'Alene's Old Sacred Heart Mission (1850–1863) in Cataldo, and the Spalding Visitor Center of the Nez Perce National Historic Park (1973–1981), which preserves and protects resources documenting the history of the Nez Perce people and their relationship to nature. Other buildings and engineering feats that respond to the unique history and geography of Idaho include the graceful Perrine Bridge (1973–1976) in Jerome, which spans the Snake River Canyon, the stately Northern Pacific Railroad Museum (1902) in Wallace, and the Hagadone Building (1972–1973) in Coeur d’Alene, which offers a unique version of Northwest Regionalism.

We sincerely thank Preservation Idaho for this honor, and we thank the team of authors who scoured the state to represent the rich architectural and engineering history of the state through a mere 119 structures.

Pauline Saliga
Executive Director, SAH

Photos: Old Sacred Heart Mission, photographed by Gregory White; University of Idaho Administration Building, photographed by Wendy R. McClure; and Eagle Creek House, photographed by Jack Smith.