Judge Charles P. McCarthy House, Prairie School residence in Boise, United States.
The Judge Charles P. McCarthy House is a two-story structure with horizontal rooflines and extended overhangs that define its Prairie School character. The building was designed as a duplex with distinct living spaces for multiple families.
The house was built in 1913 as a two-story Prairie School duplex. Its plan came from a Frank Lloyd Wright design printed in the April 1907 Ladies Home Journal, where readers could buy plans for a flat rate or have them customized by Wright's office for a 10% premium. It was listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and became a contributing property to the Hays Street Historic District in 1982.
The house is a duplex, a two-family dwelling, built in 1913 in Boise. Its plan came from a Frank Lloyd Wright design printed in the April 1907 Ladies Home Journal, where readers could buy plans for a flat rate or have Wright's office customize them for a 10% premium. The low-pitched hipped roof with deep overhangs carries the horizontal lines of the Prairie School.
The duplex stands at 441 W Hays Street in Boise's Hays Street Historic District, a residential block of early-20th-century houses. It is a private residence, so visitors see it from the public street; the deep hipped roof overhangs and low-pitch roofline read best from across the road.
The building resulted from an unusual adaptation where Wright's original single-family concrete design was converted into a practical wooden duplex. This creative modification demonstrates how early modern designs were adjusted to meet local building needs.
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