Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Main Telephone Building
Bannock Street and Capitol Blvd. in Boise. This building originally housed the long-distance and directory assistance operators (see interior photo). The equipment on top of the building was an essential part of long-distance phone calls as a microwave radio relay station. The building is still in use and is an essential component of Boise telephone and internet service.
This building is controversial for its looks and height so close to Capital Blvd., however, as you can see from the building rendering, at one point an even taller addition was planned to the east of the building. The utilitarian design is representative of the no-frills mid-century buildings Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph commissioned from Hummel, Hummel & Jones, et. al. throughout Idaho.
This building was designed by Frederick Hummel in 1951 and built in phases from 1951 to 1971 (the changing brick colors give the additions away).
This is a proposed building renovation for their facility at 609-613 Main Street. Although this design would match the building on Bannock, thankfully it was not implemented and we still have the Romanesque sandstone façade on that building.
