Mallon House move gains traction

WALLACE — The tiny home at 3 Bank St. in Wallace, moved one step closer to having a new home after a Wallace City Council decision earlier this week.

The Wallace City Council gave Wallace Chamber coordinator Dave Copelan the green light to pursue a Gem State Grant that could fund the moving of the Mallon House, as well as a simple rehabilitation of the home that would make it suitable for public viewing.

The grant, through the Idaho Department of Commerce would cover 80 percent of the cost of the project and leave the city liable for the other 20 percent.

Copelan believes those costs can be covered privately, or with in-kind work, which would leave the city with next to no financial liability in the project.

Copelan’s plans for the tiny home include getting the house from its current location on the corner of King and Bank streets and moving it to the Visitor’s Center where it would become an additional exhibit to the multi-acre park right off I-90.

The council had given Copelan a few concerns that he needed to look into before they would give him the go-ahead to write and submit the grant.

Things like the building’s structural stability, would the bridges over Placer Creek support a load as heavy as the home, the costs of maintenance, and many other smaller items were all explored and cleared by Copelan.

“When I came here in January, the council had several questions that I couldn’t answer,” Copelan said. “I have tried to get all of those questions answered.”

At a total cost of around $40,000, the home can be moved and rehabilitated to a point that people could go inside and look at it or simply have it maintained to a point where it can stand as a living example of what a modest home of a bygone era miner looked like.

Despite almost all of the initial concerns being addressed, concerns still exist surrounding the potential maintenance and care of the home once it’s moved and whether it’s actually worth saving.

“I love this house Dave, it’s always been one of my favorite houses, I used to walk by it every day,” Wallace Mayor Lynn Mogenson said. “Everything has a life.”

The city is still concerned about maintenance and liability surrounding the house however, the council did give Copelan their blessing to submit the grant under the city’s governance, which is required when applying for a Gem State Grant.

The Mallon House has been owned by Rick and Indy Behrendt since they acquired the property from former Wallace mayor and neighbor, Archie Hulsizer a few years ago.

The Behrendts made waves in the small town after they submitted an application to Wallace Planning and Zoning in mid-2016 to demolish the home.

This project is definitely not a first of its kind for Wallace, in 1986 the city moved the Northern Pacific Depot 200 feet to avoid it being caught in the construction of I-90.