STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Ellsworth Inn was abuzz with activity Wednesday afternoon, just as it has been every day for this past year since handsaws began whirring and jackhammers began their rat-tat-tat-tat.

Only this time the 110-year-old Hailey inn was resounding with the pitter patter of feet as dozens of people toured six new apartments that will serve as workforce housing.

Michelle Griffith, executive director of ARCH, pointed to “before” pictures—one of which even showed a room that had suffered a fire—then gestured towards the “after” for a group of young women in their 30s.

Each unit comes with refrigerator, stove, washer and dryer.

She took them down into the basement where the last owners had created a spooktacular haunting one Halloween several years ago.

She took them into an apartment with its own entry on the south side of the building that people might not even realize is there. And she took them into a bedroom, which still boasts two turn-of-the-century cabinets through which old poker chips and a dirty spoon vase can be seen through the glass windows.

“If it were me, I’d put my bed right here…or here,” she said, her hands pointing towards two areas of the room.

ARCH transformed what was a nine-bedroom Inn built in 1915 into six one-bedroom apartments this year.

One unit includes two cabinets that preserve some of the architectural flavor of the historical home.

The Ellsworth Inn was originally built as a family home in 1915 by James McDonald, a wealthy young man from a prominent London family who had just wed Beluah Lamb. The construction project then was a boon to the local economy, which was experiencing a downturn triggered by plummeting silver prices.

McDonald filled the home with a large art collection from his father’s London home, and Beluah tended the irises, which still define the front garden beds more than a hundred years later.

Hailey doctor E. W. Fox, who was born in 1887 and raised in Hailey, purchased the home in 1929. Fox served the community for 41 years, making house calls with what might be considered a forerunner of a snowmobile powered by an airplane engine.

The home was used as a funeral home from 1936 to 1949 when it was purchased by the LDS Church and used as a Mormon stake house.

This shows where the detached units will be built.

Arizona transplant Maurice Ellsworth purchased the property in 1961 and lived in it for the next 20 years. Sonja Tarnay, a talented pianist and native of Oslo, Norway, purchased it in 1983, turning it into a bed and breakfast in which she hung the homemade quilts she designed for her business The Quilt Barn.

Carol Kavalaris bought it in 1988, turning it into a private hunting lodge before selling it in 2002 to Michelle Factor, a self-described clairvoyant who called herself Angel Factor. She bought it sight unseen after having a vision of purchasing a three-story residence with stone lions and circular driveway.

She opened the home as a bed and breakfast, intending to make it a spiritual center, but sold it to two Mississippi brothers who operated the home as a bed and breakfast a couple years later. Under their ownership it was used for a myriad of cultural events, including a Blaine County Heritage Court tea.

When the property went on the market in 2023, The City of Hailey stepped in to save the historic property from being razed. The City of Sun Valley agreed to purchase the property for workforce housing and enlisted ARCH to come up with the money to develop it.

This picture shows what the Ellsworth property looked like in its infancy.

Jeanne Herberger, a renowned business leader and philanthropist who moved to Hailey following the death of her husband Gary--an architect who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright--was a catalyst for a substantial capital campaign, matching every dollar donated to ARCH by 50 percent up to $1 million.

On Wednesday Don McCall of PEAK Construction of Ketchum handed out last-minute work orders even as tourgoers milled around.

“I love that we were able to recreate something new out of a home that was built more than a hundred years ago,” he said. “We probably had 40 guys working in here at a time, not to mention plumbers and electricians,”

Each unit has a bedroom, bath and kitchen with small dining area or living area. Each is different in terms of space and configuration. They don’t share walls, which affords each a privacy not often not found in apartment buildings.

The floors are made of vinyl composite tiles, save for the unit on the southwest corner, which was able to retain its original wood flooring. Kitchen counters are made of solid stone, and each unit has a Whirlpool refrigerator, stove, washer and dryer.

There is a low-profile ramp heading onto the first floor where one unit has a fully handicapped accessible bathroom and the other, a partially handicapped accessible bathroom.

The ceilings were redone and fire protection drywall added, McCall said.

“I’d say the most unique features are the fireplaces a couple of the units have,” said Adriana Lopez.

The $2.8 million Phase I, which included a cottage remodel on the east side, is expected to wrap up by May 1 when tenants will be able to move in.

The $5.2-million Phase Two will begin as soon as ARCH can secure building permits. It will include a duplex with four bedrooms on each side, as well as 10 three-bedroom single-family detached homes, each with two-and-a-half baths.

WANT TO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF?

ARCH will hold a second tour at 702 3rd Ave. S., across from the Senior Connection from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 29.

Those interested in the apartments or the new three- and four-bedroom single-family homes should go to https://archbc.org/.