Wallace

"It's quite a structural feat. This is one of the most exciting buildings in the state," says architect Mike Patano.

Watch a clip about Wallace from Designing Idaho

One of the West's most distinctive towns, architecturally, is Wallace. Founded during the glory days of silver mining in the 1880's, Wallace was once Idaho's third largest city.

One of architect Mike Patano's favorite buildings is the Rossi insurance building, on the corner of Sixth & Bank streets. "A lot of people wonder how it's supported," says Patano. "There's a lot of steel hidden in there. It's a tribute to the architects and engineers of the time."

Many of the downtown buildings have a lot of glass on the bottom, which is remarkable, considering the age of these buildings.

"There's a steel beam that spans across the glass that carries the brick up above. For a 1900 building to be that light on the base is a feat. And you don't see any cracks in the building.

The entire downtown of Wallace is an historical district. Patano used many of these historical design features to build the new high school which opened in 2003.

"The horizontal separation between the lower part of the building and the upper part is something we picked up on. And if you look at the high school, you're going to see some of that separation. In fact, we tie the high school to the history of the older buildings."