![The Idaho House, formerly Idaho's official governor's residence - though no Idaho governor has lived there - and the former home of the late billionare J.R. Simplot. After being returned to the Simplot family, the home was torn down in January of 2016.](https://thumb.spokesman.com/uO6q6eDqVn9RLDznlEJuDvMVKgE=/600x0/media.spokesman.com/graphics/2018/07/sr-loader.png)
The tale of the governor's mansion that isn't 12
For more than three decades, Idaho has struggled with the issue of a governor's mansion, ever since then-Gov. Cecil Andrus refused to live in the deteriorating Boise home the state had provided since 1947. Billionaire J.R. Simplot's donation to the state of his hilltop mansion…