Decks in North End, Boise

What a North End deck has to account for

• Design for the review you are going to get. Staff and the Historic Preservation Commission judge projects against the city's Historic Preservation Guidelines, and the decks that move fastest are low, behind the house, and quiet in material and color. A stair landing visible from the street, a wraparound on a corner lot, or a platform that rises above an alley garage roof all invite more discussion and, sometimes, a hearing.
• Assume the house cannot carry a ledger until proven otherwise. Homes from the 1890s to the 1910s often sit on sandstone or rubble foundations with balloon framing and several generations of siding over the original sheathing, so there may be no rim joist worth bolting to. A freestanding deck with its own beam a short step off the wall avoids the problem entirely, and it keeps the historic wall intact, which reviewers tend to appreciate.
• The back door often sits higher than it looks. Many North End houses stand on crawlspaces with the rear entry two to three feet above the yard, so even a modest landing deck crosses Boise's 12-inch line and needs a building permit as well as historic approval. Replacing an old back porch with a deck counts as constructing a porch or deck on the city's Certificate of Appropriateness list.
• Narrow lots change the logistics. With 50-foot frontages and tight side yards, materials usually come in from the alley, footings are often dug by hand, and the setback lines Planning confirms at 208-608-7100 can leave less room than the yard suggests. Rear-yard decks that leave space for the alley garage, trash pickup and utility meters get built with fewer change orders. Corner lots, originally 30 feet wide, add a second street-facing side that historic review will look at.
• Trees are protected and they are also in the way. Removing a tree in a historic district requires its own Certificate of Appropriateness, so footings are laid out around root zones and beams can span farther to skip a big root. Under that canopy, decks collect leaves and stay shaded, which favors capped boards with wide enough gaps to drain debris and a frame with joist tape on top.
• Harrison Boulevard lots carry their own design goals. The boulevard was laid out in 1891 along an alternate route of the Oregon Trail and named for President Benjamin Harrison, and its uninterrupted parkway of ornamental pear trees and streetlights is what the district protects. The city's goals for it call for keeping rear alleys and the line of street setbacks and respecting street trees and parkway plantings, so a deck there belongs firmly in the back yard, served from the alley side during construction.
• Hyde Park blocks mix homes with the 13th Street shops. The Hyde Park and Brumback additions were platted in 1891 alongside a new streetcar line, and the commercial center at 13th and Eastman was zoned for business in Boise's first zoning ordinance in 1928. Houses just behind the strip share alleys with businesses, so deliveries, parking and noise shape where a deck and its privacy screening go, and lots fronting 13th Street can also fall under the Hyde Park Character Overlay.
• Material choice is a conversation with staff, not a rule we can quote. Painted wood guards with simple square balusters and muted decking colors read as compatible on most bungalows; a low rear deck in a capped composite with a wood-tone or gray finish is often acceptable when it cannot be seen from the street. We bring samples to the concept review rather than guessing.

Around: Camel's Back Park · Hyde Park (13th & Eastman) · Harrison Boulevard · Fort Street · Hill Road · Hulls Gulch Reserve