The Dan Tanner house is a local version of the popular American Colonial Revival style with Queen Anne features. It stands two-and-one-half stories tall, topped with a gable roof. The siding is narrow shiplap, with corner posts and story dividers adding a variety of textures, as is typical of Queen Anne houses. The southwest corner tower is the outstanding feature of the house. It is eight-sided, with simple double-hung sash windows on both first and second floors set in the five sides. The roof sports swooping eaves, a tall finial and two five-sided attic windows whose pointed top edges emphasize the peak of the tower.
Porches are another dominant feature of the Tanner house, almost completely surrounding the house on three sides. A porch runs across the front or west side of the house to the edge of the tower and another porch wraps along the south side and across the rear or east. A small second story porch also graces the south side. All of these porches are treated in a similar manner, with a low shiplap wall and round wooden columns supporting their hipped roofs.
The Tanner house is architecturally significant as one of only a small group of houses in Sandpoint which could be called Queen Anne in style. This style had dwindled in popularity by the time most of Sandpoint, platted in 1898, was built. The Queen Anne style gave way to the more popular bungalow style, which is well represented in the town.
The Tanner house is also the only house in town with a tower, a feature not common in north Idaho.
Dan Tanner built his house in 1906 for the cost of $2,500. When comparing a 1906 photograph with the present-day house, one finds that they look virtually the same. The original cresting along the gable ridge is no longer extant, and an extra door was cut into the facade when the building was made into apartments, but these are the only noticeable changes. Even the tones of paint are similar. The almost original appearance of the Tanner house makes it outstanding among Sandpoint homes. Most of the older homes have been altered in some way, through window changes, new siding, or additions. No such changes have spoiled the Tanner house.
From the Idaho Historical Society