The 234-page, 8½ by 11-inch book includes 500 photos of historic Lewiston homes, businesses, schools and churches, highlighting the interiors of those spaces and the people who built and lived in them.
In the instances of many homes, for example, Branting found photos of the interiors from the original owners, and also tracked down photos of the architects who designed the homes and the contractors who built them.
“The idea came from, really, comments that my readers had made to me,” Branting said.
They would see a story about an old building and wonder what it would have looked like inside, he said.
“It really was a topic that needed to be handled."
There were discoveries along the way, including that the Hurlbut Mansion, known by many as the former children’s home, was not the first home built there. The original, built in 1905, burned to the ground in 1906.
The book, $30, is available at the Nez Perce County Museum, Idaho Memories, Bargain Hunter Mall and Owl Southway in Lewiston and Erb’s Ace Hardware, River Chicks, Tri-State Owl and And Books, Too in Clarkston.
