The new gallery and welding shop door pulls are looking incredible! We are thrilled with how everything is coming together on this exciting new project. Delia is now creating another style of handle for the interior of her welding shop door featuring a raven, roses, and barbed wire! New Basement
Original Basement
The new basement is complete! We are so excited for this to become a much more usable space with so many possibilities! The history of this basement is full of oddities and rumors, and we can't wait to tell you the stories!
We are loving the new doors and windows in our gallery, which were installed last week! We think it gives the glass block and brick a new, modern, and exciting look! We love how they look from inside, too! The boarded up section on the right will be a large glass window! The Welding Shop Door & Windows.
This renovation is moving fast! The basement has been dug out and new support beams are almost in. The basement hasn't slowed down the progress upstairs either! All of the framing has been completed, so we finally have a good idea of what our new layout will feel like!
Framing has started to go up at 1322 W Main Street! We are finally able to wrap our minds around how the studio and gallery will look upon completion. The basement dig- out has also begun! First, a ramp was created in our parking lot. Then, an opening was made in the wall of the basement, and a support beam inserted to hold up the rest of the wall. Now all sorts of machines are able to drive in to our basement, break the concrete floor, and remove it so that the height of our basement is up to code. The awning for Delia's welding shop door was installed last week! We think it mixes modern with the old charm of our building perfectly! 
Our building's original storefront in 1913! Our new studio and gallery is one of Boise's oldest remaining structures! Built in the Edwardian era from local sandstone, it has housed an array of businesses from the early 1900's to now. This comes with lots of old-world charm, and. a whole host of issues- one such issue we ran into with our plumbing shortly after purchasing the building. We found out that our building's water line was not connected to the city's line- instead, they had connected another line on the property. As our plumbers were digging their way to the second, connected line, they started to dig up what seemed to be a building! According to the 1912 Sanborn map, the building with a stone foundation at 108 & 110 14th St (our parking lot) was split into two dwellings. Our building was home to 3 different shops- a second hand store we assume to be Lovely's, "S" denoting an unnamed store, and a sign painting shop. Allegedly, this was the period in which the basement served as a dirt-floor brothel, and illegal gambling site, as later owner Denis Ochi told us. In 1930, the address was listed as Nelson's Grocery. On August 27, 1935, records show a Quit Claim deed by the Davis family of Julia Davis park in Boise. Meanwhile, a 1937 Idaho Statesman article discussed "widely known Boise resident, Mr. Richard Moore, of 108 1/2 14th Street." His wife was noted in the newspaper for her dinner parties and cards to follow- one article even discussing the winner of the card game! In 1940, the listing noted both Nelson's and Baldwin's Meat & Market. By 1950, it was listed as Bob Fifer's Appliance store. From February 19, 1957-November 20, 1961, the entirety of 1322 W. Main St was home to Trader Horn's new and used furniture and appliances. They ran weekly ads in the Idaho Statesman, advertising low prices for items from post card machines to used cars. 
September 19, 2016 Metal and glass enamel artist Delia Dante takes us inside her downtown Boise studio to share her story about how a master's degree at Boise State changed her life forever. youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1XmgONWijg&ab_channel=BoiseStateUniversity |
