Troutner House Addition – Trout Architects

In 1955 Troutner built a house for himself and his wife Kathryn, located in the east Boise hills just below Table Rock. He chose a severe site that was much to his liking. It was a tough sage brush and sunflower covered site marked by a long outcropping of basalt rock. There at the end of an outcropping, Art chose to graft his family home into the rock. He would imbed a two foot diameter steel column into the rock and build a sixteen sided two story house as if it were a part of the lava flow itself – a many faceted circle. While this would be one of Troutner’s finest structures, a profound combination of steel, wood, and stone, it did not employ the truss-deck system. In fact, it used steel trusses cantilevered from the great pylon to support the floors and roof. A powerful wall of Oakley stone provided the hearth. This centering element is much reminiscent of the way Frank Lloyd Wright would center his own houses on a natural or man-made rock core. The view of the valley was expansive and here Kathy Troutner could watch their two young children with binoculars, if necessary, as they roamed the nearby hills. This is one house that seems to relate to John Lautner’s work in the Los Angeles area. The property was of a size that easily accommodated Art’s work shop and the now famous dirigible hanger. Here he could create to his hearts content. Whether it be solar dishes, structural members, dirigibles, or sailboats.

In 2001, the current owners hired Trout Architects to restore the home after a fire had damaged much of the structure and to to add a sleeping wing and garage.

Design Team: Dwaine Carver, Steve Trout