Celebrating 125 Years: Post War Boom (1949-1960)

Originally designed by Wayland & Fennel in the 1930's Whitney Elementary School was one of many area schools renovated and added to during this era.

With war and rationing behind them the American public gained unprecedented access to materials, technology, manpower and capital.  The economy promoted expansion, new ventures and leisure.  Returning veterans, including Glen Cline, a graduate of the School of Engineering and Architecture at Kansas State University and former B21 Bomber Pilot, entered the workforce by the thousands.  Independent and resourceful, many choose to be entrepreneurs.  Recruited by Ike Wayland, Cline joined the firm in 1949.  Schools and residential projects were constantly on the drawing board, plus commercial and bank buildings, city halls and armories, and service stations to fuel a nation-wide rise in automobile tourism. 

Projects included the Idaho Historical Museum (1950), Mountain Bell Building (1951), and maintenance and squadron operations buildings at Mountain Home AFB.  Early retail projects included Skaggs Drug Stores in Salt Lake City and Denver.  The Bank of Idaho became a steady client and the firm designed a new science building for Boise Junior College in 1954.  The firm became Wayland & Cline in 1955.  –

Celebrating 125 Years: Forging the Greatest Generation (1929-1948)

Original Entry, Boise Gallery of Art (1936)

Unlike many cities hard hit in the Depression, Boise held steady and continued to grow.  During the late 1930s the Basque migration to Idaho and Utah was in full swing.  Gowen Field was a training facility during WW II and further stimulated valley growth.  Charles V. “Ike” Wayland, son of the senior Wayland, joined the firm in 1929 and the practice centered on hospital, school, financial, commercial, and public projects.  In 1938 James Fennell returned to California.  



Art Deco Idaho Power Building (1932) was originally white; this is c.1990 after updates.

Notable projects of this period include the original Idaho Power Building (1932) and the original Boise Gallery of Art, now BAM (1936), buildings for the new Boise Junior College starting in 1940, the Veterans’ Home, Department of Highways and Law Enforcement Building and architectural design assistance for the Capitol Boulevard and Payette River (McCall highway) Bridges.  The firm was associate architect for the Ada County Courthouse (1938), and in 1939 completed a small project for Morrison Knudson, forging a relationship that lasted over 50 years.  The downtown Eddie’s Bakery, known to generations of Idaho second-graders, was built in 1942 at a cost of $18,342.  –