The Simplot family mansion in Boise, Idaho, started being demolished from Monday. The demolition process is expected to be completed in 10 days time starting from Monday. The mansion had once served as the residence of J.R. Simplot, who donated it to Idaho. Idaho was unable to maintain the mansion and returned it to the family of the now-deceased J.R. Simplot. The Simplot family is unwilling to move into the mansion.
The potato entrepreneur J.R. Simplot built the mansion in 1979. Simplot built an empire by acting as a supplier of french fries to companies such as McDonald's. The mansion itself is somewhat large - it has nearly 7,400 square feet of built up space, according to Local News 8. The mansion sits on 36 acres of hillside that is also a part of the same property. The mansion has one ballroom, two kitchens, one library and three bedrooms, according to The Boise Weekly..
J.R. Simplot himself occupied the mansion until 2004. In that year, he donated the mansion to the state of Idaho so that it could serve as the official residence of the governor of Idaho. The man who was the governor of Idaho at that time - Dirk Kempthorne - used the mansion as an official residence during his tenure. But the current governor Clement "Butch" Otter is unwilling to make this mansion his official residence. Hence the house was returned to the family of J.R.Simplot in 2013. (J.R. Simplot himself died in 2008). The Simplot family does not want to move in now as they do not see a use for the mansion.
One of the factors that has made the state of Idaho circumspect about using this mansion is because of the expenditure involved in maintaining it. The property on which the mansion stands also hosts a very famous United States flag that flutters on top of the hill. This flag is a popular icon of Boise and can be seen from a great distance down the valley. The flag is also a part of the property and one of the conditions of the original donation by J.R. Simplot was that this flag would continue to fly atop the mansion even after the donation, according to The Idaho Statesman. This flag will return to the site once the demolition of the mansion is completed in ten days.
