Four Recognized Nov. 13 For Historic Preservation

MOSCOW – Four honorees were selected by the city Historic Preservation Commission Thursday to receive annual Orchid Awards at 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, in the second floor LeCompte Auditorium and Reception Gallery. 

Guest speaker at the free, public ceremony will be Dulce Kersting-Lark, head of Special Collections and Archives at the University of Idaho Library. Refreshments will be served.

The awards will go to:

* Kenworthy theater, 508 S. Main, for rebuilding its marquee.

“In my old community, we fought marquee change because they weren’t doing what the Kenworthy did,” said Commissioner Renee Magee. “They were replacing marquees with (digital) moving screens. The Kenworthy didn’t do that; they really deserve an award.”

* Hotel Moscow/Garden Lounge, 313 S. Main.

* Doug Wasankari, who recently installed new footings to repair/reinforce the foundations of the 1907 Wylie Lauder home at 1320 S. Deakin Ave. Lauder owned claypits and a brickyard in the area that supplied many of the bricks used to build downtown Moscow, said Commissioner Jack Porter. 

For years, Wasankari’s “building recycler” business south of town has been called upon to save, preserve and enhance Moscow’s older structures.  

* The former Tomer home at 814 S. Harrison. Built in 1889 or 1890, it later was owned by the Tomer family, for whom Tomer Butte east of town is named. Owners Steven and Mary Shook had the home renovated by Rex Lunsford in 2024-2025, aiming to return it to its likely 1910-20 appearance inside and out. 

“This is a beautiful example of a farm home in Swede Town,” noted commission Chair Nels Reese. Learn more about this large Moscow neighborhood at https://www.latahcountyhistoricalsociety.org/post/moscow-s-swede-town

The Orchid Awards presentation will serve as the Historic Preservation Commission’s November meeting. The board will not meet in December. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, in the Haddock Building, 504 S. Washington St.