BOISE, Idaho — A 304-ton historic brick house in Boise is on the move.
St. Luke’s hired movers to lift the Bishop Foote Guest House off its current site at Jefferson and 2nd streets and relocate the home less than half mile away on a lot at the corner of Avenue B and Bannock Street.
Hospital officials say movers are using a complex dolly system to relocate the house.
The move started Friday morning and is expected to be completed by Saturday evening. The house will park overnight on Jefferson between 1st and 2nd streets.
The movers plan to start up again early Saturday morning, between 7 and 8 a.m. The house will move slowly down Jefferson Street toward Avenue B. It will pass behind the hospital and turn on to Avenue B.
There will be some temporary road closures in the area while this is taking place.
Emergency patients will still have access to the Emergency Department and are encouraged to use the entrance on Idaho Street at Avenue A. Jefferson Street will be reopened to traffic.
Around noon, the house will pass under the Skybridge to Bannock Street. Giant wench trucks will slowly pull the home on to the lot at the corner of Avenue B and Bannock. Once the house is in place and the equipment removed, Avenue B will reopen.
The Bishop Foote Guest House was built in 1935 and is 4,000 square feet. The brick home weighs 304 tons. St. Luke’s bought the home in 1972 and opened it as a guest house in April 1973.
It has served as a home away from home for St. Luke’s patients and their caregivers during treatment at one of the hospital's medical facilities in Boise.
Hospital officials say that more than 100,000 people have stayed there during the time it’s been open.
It was once the home of Rev. Norman Foote who served as Episcopal Bishop of Idaho from 1957 to 1972. He was also president of the St. Luke Hospital Board of Directors during that time. He retired in 1972.
Currently there are no plans for the building.
