Third Generation Boise Architect Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
Charles Hummel, FAIA, honored by Idaho Governor

by Heather Livingston
Contributing Editor

Summary: Idaho Gov. James E. Risch honored Boise architect Charles Hummel, FAIA, with the Governor’s Awards in the Arts 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award on October 7. “Chuck is really deserving of a lifetime award,” said Gov. Risch. “His roots run very deep here in Boise. He has spent a lifetime on a number of projects that really changed the face of Boise.” The ceremony took place in the city’s historic Egyptian Theatre, designed by Hummel’s father and completed when Charles was one year old. Charles Hummel led the theater’s renovation three decades ago.

A third-generation architect, Hummel is the fourth in his family to make architecture his profession. His father, Fritz, and his uncle Frank took over what is now Hummel Architects from Charles’ grandfather, Charles F. Hummel. Founded in 1896, the Hummel firm has had a central role in defining the urban character of Boise. His predecessors were responsible for the Idaho State Capitol, St. John’s Cathedral, and many other historic buildings in the state.

Charles Hummel’s contributions to the Hummel legacy include the U.S. Courthouse and James A. McClure Federal Building; Our Lady of the Valley Church in Caldwell, Idaho; and the Student Union Building and Library at Boise State University. “Architecture is like clothing. It’s our third skin,” says Hummel. “Public buildings reflect something about us. If they’re in a city or town, they have to be part of the urban fabric. They can’t work against it. They have to be in the context of their place. Our work has always respected that.”

An Idaho treasure
“Charles is an Idaho treasure,” said Connie Searles, executive director of AIA Idaho. “His buildings touch our lives everyday, yet he remains one of the most approachable, humble, and delightful gentlemen I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. I can think of no one who is more deserving of this award.”

“Out west, we’re a lot different than you are back east,” said Gov. Risch. “We’ve only been a state since 1890, so we don’t have [historic structures] that are hundreds of years old, but we do have monuments that are going to be around for a long time like the [Idaho State] Capitol and St. John’s Cathedral. We don’t have that many monuments, but I have to tell you that virtually every monument we have, either he or his family have fingerprints on from either an original architectural design or a restoration project. I can’t stress enough how influential he and his family have been in defining our monuments.”

Although Hummel hails from a family of architects, his career in architecture wasn’t laid out before him. “I knew an awful lot about architecture as a kid,” he says, but “it wasn’t until after the end of World War II that I really made up my mind that I was going to study architecture. My father never told me that I ought to be an architect. I didn’t feel any pressure from my family. I had an uncle who was also a partner in the firm and they had another partner so it wasn’t like automatic succession or anything. I didn’t become a partner in the firm for 10 years after I went to work there, so it wasn’t a drop kick.”

Active architecture advocate
Although he retired from practice in 1999, Hummel still remains an active and vocal advocate for the Boise design community and the profession. “I think one of the reasons I was selected for this award was because all of my professional life I’ve been extremely active in civic affairs, particularly urban planning and zoning and historic preservation,” he says. “I’m still quite active in those things. I’m the president of a good planning advocacy organization called Idaho Smart Growth, and we’re extremely busy. We partner with the Urban Land Institute, among others. We’re very active right now in trying to defeat an anti-growth measure that would make it almost impossible for local governments to do intelligent planning and zoning. It happened in Oregon, for instance, and they’re paying for it there. Montana, Washington State, and Idaho are the latest targets of this.”

Hummel also is heavily involved in the local community and has served on boards supporting the arts, including the Boise Art Museum and the Boise Philharmonic. “Art and architecture are twins,” he says. “There’s a unity to all the arts: dance, art and architecture, saddle making, even cooking. I don’t draw a distinction between the so-called higher and the practical arts. They’re all pushed by the same impulse: the need to work and to make the thing right.”