Utah Preservation Magazine - Building on the Past Volume 4, 2000 by Utah Historical Society

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This Millennial issue brings us to our fourth year publishing Utah Preservation. We at

UTAH PRESERVATION B U I L D I N G

THE

PAST

FYVE*STAR take great pride in this publication. It was instrumental in our receiving a coveted Small Business Giant Step Award for the year 2000 from the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. Those of you who know us are aware this magazine is both a "labor of love" and an "acquired taste." In the beginning we knew very little about all the previous and ongoing efforts to preserve Utah's heritage. We learned quickly though, and have developed a deep appreciation for this important and fascinating field and for the individual projects we

President/CEO Celeste Cleave* (801) 566.7642 www. fyvesta r.com Administrative V.P. Sandra L. Hudson

have been able to cover. We strive to create a publication that does justice to these Freelance Editor Teresa Zundel

important stories and to the people and historic structures behind them. We welcome your comments and suggestions as we continue to promote the preservation of Utah's heritage though these pages. Warmest Regards,

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Celeste Gleave*

E D I T O R ' S

Utah Division of State History (Utah State Historical Society) (801) 533-3500 history.utah.org

N O T E

The story of historic preservation is often misunderstood. Many see it as a backward-looking, nostalgic-driven attempt to save old buildings that have outlived their usefulness. Historic preservationists know better. We've seen enough rehabilitation projects to realize

Director Max J. Evans Associate Director Wilson C. Martin

that old buildings can, and should, pull their own weight. And they offer architectural character and an intriguing past that is impossible to create in a new building. We are not interested in keeping old building as unused relics, and we are opposed to seeing them thoughtlessly plowed under to make way for "progress." As the magazine's subtitle implies, we believe we can "build on the past" without destroying it, and we'll all be better off as a result. That is what Utah Preservation is all about. Roger Roper

To purchase additional copies of this magazine or inquire about distribution points please

Editor Utah Preservation Roger V. Roper Assistant Editor Kristen S. Rogers

Utah Preservation: Building on the Past (ISSN 1525-0849) is published annually by FYVE*STAR, Inc., in partnership with the Utah State Historical Society/Utah State Historic Preservation Office. Copies of Utah Preservation are available through select bookstores in Utah and are provided free to members of the Historical Society (see page 78 for membership information).

contact Sandra Hudson at (801) 566.7642. To purchase back issues please contact Utah State Historical Society at (801) 533.3500.

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Utah Preservation receives financial support f r o m t h e Utah Interagency Task Force, including the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Utah Division of State History. It is also funded w i t h the assistance of a matching grant-in-aid f r o m the National Park Service. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of policies of the Department of the Interior, nor does t h e mention of trade names or commercial products constit u t e endorsement or r e c o m m e n d a t i o n by t h e Department of the Interior. Regulations of the U.S. Department of the Interior strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age or handicap. Any person w h o believes he or she has been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility operated by a recipient of Federal assistance should w r i t e t o : Equal Opportunity Program, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, D.C. 20013-7127. Published by FYVE*STAR, Inc., o f f e r i n g full-color pulications and unique innovation advertising o p p o r t u nities to businesses and organizations. Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication. Neither the Utah State Historical Society nor FYVE*STAR, Inc., can assume responsibility for errors or omissions.

UTAH PRESERVATION:

Building on the Past

Volume 4

TOP 25 REHABS OF THE 20TH CENTURY 6

Thousands of Utah's historic buildings were restored during the 20th century. Which were the most important rehabilitation projects and why? M I N D I N G THE MIDWAY: HOW LAGOON BALANCES NOVELTY A N D NOSTALGIA 24

This 19th-century amusement park has survived, even thrived, by introducing new attractions each year. Yet preservation of historic features and traditions has also been part of its formula for success. By Rebekah Smith THE CONSERVATION OF HOVENWEEP'S SQUARE TOWER 32

The National Park Service faces the stiff challenge of preserving these 800-year-old stone towers in southeastern Utah. By Jan Nystrom WALTER WARE'S WAREHOUSES 38

Lesser-known works of a prominent Utah architect have proved to be durable, adaptable, and attractive buildings in the resurgent warehouse district. By Fran Pruyn BACK TO SCHOOL PHOTO CONTEST 44

The twelve photographs featured here provide award-winning views of both well-known and obscure educational buildings in Utah. DUGOUT RANCH: A NEW WAY OF WINNING THE WEST 52

Ranchers and conservationists have come together to forge an agreement that promises to preserve both the biological and cultural resources of this vast, historic ranch in Utah's redrock country. By Liz Montague DIXIE REVIVALS 56

Several towns in Utah's Dixie have caught the spirit of historic preservation. Developers, non-profits, and community groups have all taken on challenging rehab projects in this booming region. By Doug Alder HOTEL MONACO: BANKING ON M A I N STREET'S RESURGENCE 66

The 1924 Continental Bank on Salt Lake City's struggling Main Street finds a new life as an upscale hotel and restaurant. By Rich Tuttle NINETEENTH-CENTURY UTAH GRAVESTONES AND THEIR CARVERS 72

Headstone artistry reflects not only the skills of accomplished craftsmen but local beliefs and culture as well. By Carol Edison YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN: STROMQUIST'S FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT HOUSE 80

The couple who commissioned Utah's only Wright-designed building reflect on the aesthetic qualities of the home and what it has meant to them as they prepare to move back into it after a 34-year hiatus. By Donald M. and Jane Layton Stromquist

Cover photo: Window, Redick Allred House, (c.1875) Spring City Photo by: Utah SHPO

25 REIABS of the

2 0 T I CENTURY C H O O S I N G T H E " B E S T " O F A N Y T H I N G IS N E V E R EASY. T H I S IS ESPECIALLY T R U E O F H I S T O R I C PRESER-

VATION PROJECTS, EACH WITH ITS OWN DRAMATIC STORY OF ADVERSITY OVERCOME AND HISTORY PRESERVED. HOW DO YOU COMPARE SAVING THE MODEST ADOBE HOME OF AN EARLY PIONEER WITH PRESERVING AN ART DECO COURTHOUSE OR REVIVING A BELOVED MOVIE THEATER? EACH IS IMPORTANT IN ITS OWN WAY. I T ' S LIKE CHOOSING A FAVORITE CHILD, BUT CHOOSE WE MUST.

In selecting the century's top rehabs, we set out some criteria and consulted past and current preservationists for advice. We were looking for projects that had at least a few of the following attributes: • Exhibited high-quality rehabilitation work that retained original materials and character whenever possible. • Represented exceptional effort by a broad coalition of supporters. • Served as a model that inspired other restoration efforts and brought positive visibility to preservation among the general public. • Resulted in the dramatic reversal of poor remodeling or years of neglect. • Involved exceptionally significant buildings. • Were important early projects when preservation was in its infancy (even though the work may not meet today's more advanced standards of rehabilitation). • Represented diverse locations, not just Salt Lake City or the Wasatch Front. • Exhibited the wide range of historic architecture: schools, churches, houses, commercial buildings, civic buildings, and even non-building structures. This list is obviously skewed in favor of dramatic restorations, those that captured the headlines, rather than buildings that have been quietly maintained over the years. That has been the nature of preservation as it has developed as a definable movement since passage of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Eleventh-hour stays of demolition, impassioned fund-raising campaigns, costly, wholesale renovations, and even bulldozer-blocking vigils have highlighted the early years of the movement. But those efforts are treatments of last resort, like heart surgery or chemotherapy. Routine maintenance, sensitive upgrades, and enlightened land-use decisions, like exercise and a good diet, are better options for a healthy preservation agenda, though not as spectacular or newsworthy. The 21st century will undoubtedly have its own dramatic preservation projects, but hopefully the new century will see preservation become more mainstream, the rule rather than the exception.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

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BOX ELDER S T A K E T A B E R N A C L E 251 S. Main, Brigham City By 1987, when this tabernacle was rededicated, the LDS church had begun to restore more of its older buildings rather than demolish or remodel them unsympathetically. And the level of restoration work began to match the quality of the original architecture. This stone and brick Gothic Revival building is an excellent case in point. Not only was the exterior meticulously refurbished, but significant interior features, such as the balcony and the distinct precipitous pulpit, were also retained. It looks much as it did in 1897 when it was rebuilt after a devastating fire. Other notable LDS church restorations

include

tabernacles in St. George, Provo, and Logan, and numerous chapels.

The Avenues and other historic neighborhoods have benefited greatly from the experience of Capitol Hill.

CAPITOL HILL HISTORIC DISTRICT Salt Lake City While the adjacent Avenues Historic District is larger and better known, the Capitol Hill or Marmalade district was the scene of many of preservation's early successes in Salt Lake City. A major step was the 1975 relocation of the Quayle House from west downtown, where it faced demolition, to Quince Street to serve as offices of the Utah Heritage Foundation. The Quayle House became both the symbolic and literal center of the neighborhood's revitalization. UHF, in partnership with the city and area residents, first employed here many of the techniques and programs that are now common tools in the preservation effort. This eclectic neighborhood has turned around substantially since its low point in the 1960s and now attracts a broad cross-section of residents, not just the hardy urban pioneers of the early years. The Avenues and other historic neighborhoods have benefited greatly from the experiences of Capitol Hill.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

CATHEDRAL

OF T H E M A D E L E I N E

331 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City The cathedral is one of the premier ecclesiastical structures in Utah. Its rehab was equally stellar. It is one of only a handful of Utah projects over the past 30 years to receive nationwide recognition from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The exterior was restored in the late 1970s, but by the mid-1980s it became apparent that the interior needed to be redone as well. A major earthquake in California prompted an expansion of the work plan to include seismic upgrading. Though intended for completion in 1991 as a centennial project for the diocese, the meticulous rehabilitation delayed the rededication of this 1909 edifice until 1993. From top to bottom, this project exemplifies quality rehabilitation and dedication to both the symbolic and functional value of one of Utah's foremost historic structures.

It is one of only a handful of Utah projects over the past 30 years to receive nationwide recognition from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

COVE FORT Near 1-15 and 1-70 intersection, Millard County This 1867 stone fort sat vacant for decades, a curiosity to passersby and historical buffs but a daunting challenge for preservationists. How could it be used, especially in this out-of-the-way location? Who would be willing to pay for the costly restoration? In 1988, under the direction of future LDS church president Gordon B. Hinckley, whose grandfather had been charged by Brigham Young to build the fort, the LDS church purchased this 19th-century travelers waystation and began restoring it as an historical site for visitors. Today this remarkable structure draws some 400,000 visitors per year, providing them a glimpse into a unique aspect of Utah's past.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

DEWEY

BRIDGE

Off State Route 128, Grand County The Utah Department of Transportation is not known as a preservation organization, but in the mid-1980s it showed remarkable sensitivity when it opted to preserve this rare 1913 suspension bridge over the Colorado River. Federal law requires UDOT to consider options to preserve historic structures affected by road projects, but frankly those options rarely pan out. In this case, however, UDOT chose to save the bridge as a pedestrian path and construct a new, wider bridge to one side. Local preservation organizations raised funds for a thorough engineering study that has led to selective replacement of deteriorated members and other upgrades. Ongoing maintenance is still needed, but the pattern for preservation is set. UDOT saved it, locals have restored it, and thousands of visitors will enjoy it for years to come. In the meantime, most of Utah's older bridges are being systematically replaced.

EGYPTIAN THEATER 2415 Washington Boulevard, Ogden Utah's best example of Egyptian Revival architecture, the 1926 Peery's Egyptian Theater, is testament to the power of partnerships in revitalizing buildings. Local nonprofit preservation groups managed to save the building (at the eleventh hour), then they slowly began educating Ogden City, Weber County, Weber State University, and the local chamber of commerce about the viability of the facility. In the end, not only was the theater restored, but it also became the nucleus of a new convention center that has sparked a revitalization of downtown Ogden. Though the future looked bleak in 1984 for the abandoned theater, years of effort and cooperation paid off with the 1997 reopening of this exotic and impressive structure. It was the recipient of a prestigious National Trust Honor Award in 1997.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

EPHRAIM

CO-OP

96 N. Main, Ephraim Sometimes it takes decades before everything comes together for a successful rehab. In 1969, a few local residents literally stood in front of the bulldozer to save this 1872 building from demolition. It was not until 1989, however, that supporters obtained the necessary funding and found a viable use. They obtained the bulk of the funds, some $250,000, from the Permanent Community Impact Board. A local entity, the Sanpete Trade Association, opened a craft cooperative on the main floor, and a reception center occupied the upper floor. This remarkable Greek Revival-style

stone

building

represents

fine

architecture, important history, community support, and accurate restoration. It would be a great project in any city, let alone a small town.

H O T E L OTAH / J O S E P H MEMORIAL BUILDING

SMITH

15 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City Utah's premier hotel may no longer be a hotel, but it is still standing, unlike its historic rival, the Newhouse Hotel, which was demolished in 1984. And its magnificent lobby and ballrooms are also intact and open to the public, as are the rooftop restaurants. In 1988, the LDS church embarked on a five-year effort to restore this 1910 landmark, which anchors

one corner

of the

most

recognized

intersection in Utah. Adaptive use of a building on pricey real estate is always commendable, but a quality rehab on top of that is exemplary. Some may quibble about the conversion of hotel rooms to office space, but the most significant interior and exterior features have been preserved. There's no other place like it.

Adaptive use of a building on pricey real estate is always commendable, but a quality rehab on top of that is exemplary.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

KEARNS M A N S I O N / GOVERNOR'S MANSION 603 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City No other rehab project has captured the public imagination as much as the Kearns Mansion. The dramatic, near-tragic 1993 fire and subsequent restoration of the governor's mansion were chronicled in the press and culminated in heavily attended public tours of the refurbished building in the summer of 1996. The State went to great lengths to restore the highly decorative interior, hiring many of the best craftspeople in the process. Many modifications made in the 1977 rehab, when the home was reconverted to the governor's mansion after a 20-year occupancy by the Utah State Historical Society, were reversed, while at the same time numerous structural improvements were made. This home, the most elaborate of Utah's 1900-era mansions, represents the important role of mining in Utah's development. Its restoration reflects an exceptional commitment by State officials to the preservation of an architectural

and

historical

landmark.

KEITH/DROWN

MANSION

529 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City This was the first of Brigham Street's mansions to undergo a first-class restoration as corporate offices. Its purchase and reuse in 1969 by Terracor gave heart to the whole concept of South Temple as a historic district: if businessmen felt preservation of an historic building made good sense, then maybe an historic district could make good sense. Its restoration (and 1989 re-restoration after a fire) set the pattern for other rehab projects on the street, including the nearby Kearns Mansion. Many of the fine homes that once lined this street are gone, but many more have been saved because of what was done with this home over 30 years ago.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

MANTI

LDS TEMPLE

Temple Hill, Manti The sensitive refurbishing of this temple in 1981-85 represents a major step toward the preservation rather than modernization of LDS church buildings (the similarly styled Logan Temple had been gutted and remodeled just a few years earlier). Features kept in this major renovation include the large murals, basic room layouts, elaborate interior woodwork, and two impressively engineered and handcrafted spiral staircases. This 1888 building, with its castle-like prominence on the hill above town, is one of the most impressive 19th-century structures in Utah.

Gastronomy partners Tom Guinney, Tom Sieg, and John Williams received the ultimate recognition for their efforts in 1998 by winning a coveted Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

NEW YORK HOTEL 48 W. Market Street, Salt Lake City Conversion of this "building inspector's nightmare" into an upscale club, restaurants, and office building in 1979 marked two important beginnings. This was the first attempt to revitalize a down-and-out section of downtown by restoring an older building. This was also the first project by the intrepid and successful partnership, Gastronomy Inc., which has since gone on to rehabilitate several other historic buildings in seemingly unpromising areas of Salt Lake City. All have been extremely successful. Gastronomy partners Tom Guinney, Tom Sieg, and John Williams received the ultimate recognition for their efforts in 1998 by winning a coveted Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

Twenty-Five Years of Restoration.

THE NEW YORK HOTEL B U I L D I N G CONSTRUCTED

1906 -

RESTORED

1978

M A R K E T S T R E E T G R I L L / O Y S T E R B A R * , N E W YORKER 7

THE SALT LAKE HARDWARE B U I L D I N G CONSTRUCTED

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1995

P R E M I E R OFFICE SPACE

FIRE STATION NO. 8 CONSTRUCTED

1930

- RESTORED

THE PIERPONT B U I L D I N G CONSTRUCTED

1890 -

RESTORED

P R O P E R T I E S

801-239-2427 FORD MOTOR B U I L D I N G 1926 -

PREMIER

RESTORED

OFFICE

SPACE

1986

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1983

MARKET STREET BROILER

1999

A private club for members

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OGDEN U N I O N S T A T I O N & 2 5 T H STREET HISTORIC DISTRICT Ogden By the 1970s, this section of downtown Ogden was a scary place. The decline of both the railroad industry and downtown commerce left many of the buildings vacant and derelict. Crime was a serious problem. Then Ogden City embarked on a systematic program to revitalize the area, refurbishing the streetscape and overseeing the establishment of museums and restaurants in the 1926 train station, which anchors the west end of the street. Commercial revitalization began at the east end and slowly spread to the westseveral decades of decline can't be reversed in a few short years. Today, 25th Street is bustling with restaurants, a successful brew-pub, antique stores, and a variety of shops. "Two-bit Street," the historic core of Utah's railroad industry, is once again a vibrant part of Ogden's downtown.

Today, 25th Street is bustling with restaurants, a successful brew-pub, antique stores, and a variety of shops.

OLD

MAIN

Utah State University, Logan Old buildings are common on Utah's college campuses, but high-quality rehabilitations are rare. If older buildings are kept, they are usually expanded by large additions or heavily modified to accommodate new purposes. USU's Old Main is the best example of sensitive rehabilitation of a major campus building. Changes were made, of course, as part of the rehabilitation, but overall the building retains its historic integrity. The project also demonstrates uncommon commitment by university administrators to keep their flagship building after a devastating 1983 fire. They persevered through lean budgets and fourteen years of effort to preserve and put back into use this landmark 1889 structure.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

PARK C I T Y M I N E R S

HOSPITAL

1354 Park Avenue, Park City This building best symbolizes the substantial preservation efforts undertaken in this mining-townturned-resort-community. No other Utah city has faced such industrial-strength development pressures. Moving this building from harm's way in 1979 and restoring it as the town library demonstrated that preservation was a priority in Park City. It also signaled that the town's history would have a role in its future. Other preservation successes would follow, including restorations of the old Marsac School and Park City High School; integration of preservation into local planning with a strong preservation ordinance, historic district commission, and professional staff; and an innovative grants program for historic building owners. The Miners Hospital was Utah's first recipient of an Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, but the project is perhaps best remembered for its 700person book brigade that transferred the library's contents from the old to the "new" library.

PETEETNEET

SCHOOL

10 S. 600 East, Payson Old schools are the most endangered buildings in Utah. In the new-is-always-better world of local school districts, the viability of rehabilitated old buildings is a lesson yet to be learned. It is refreshing, therefore, to see a community step in to save and reuse its old school. Beginning in 1989, People Preserving Peteetneet assembled a broad coalition of building supporters and tenants in its efforts to revitalize this landmark structure. The tireless efforts of PPP volunteers coupled with creative and persistent fundraising have made this multi-year effort a success. The building serves as a local arts center and museum, and it generates income as a reception center and from a pre-school in the lower level. Peteetneet is a model for adaptive use of small-town schools.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

PROVO D O W N T O W N HISTORIC DISTRICT University Avenue & Center Street, Provo This commercial district has enjoyed a remarkable renaissance. The first wave of rehabilitation in the early 1980s set the pattern for building restoration and business reinvigoration. Another sustained effort in the mid-1990s brought it to a higher level. Also included within the district are the refurbished LDS Tabernacle and the old Neoclassical-style courthouse. Complementing the restoration efforts was the nearby construction of a major hotel and a highrise corporate headquarters (incompatible with the street in scale and design though it may be), which helped bring people back downtown. The restored buildings and pedestrian-friendly streetscape create an historic ambience that is unrivaled. Provo's downtown is a fine example of what can be done to maintain the viability of historic business districts faced with competition from strip malls, suburban sprawl, and big-box retailers.

SALT LAKE C I T Y BUILDING

& COUNTY

451 S. State, Salt Lake City It's hard to believe now that this building was once threatened with demolition; only a decisive city council vote in 1986 assured its future. The county had "abandoned ship" and pulled out all of its offices, so the city tackled the project alone. This 1894

building,

Utah's

best

example

the

Richardsonian Romanesque style, presented serious challenges: earthquake vulnerability, outmoded utilities, exterior stone problems, and seriously "remuddled" interior spaces. A very talented team of architects and craftspeople (and a budget of more than $30 million) solved all those issues. The seismic solution was especially noteworthy: the building was cut free of its foundation to rest on some 450 shock absorbing "base isolators"â&#x20AC;&#x201D;the first time this technology had been employed on an historic building. How proud is the city of its restored home? The building's image serves as the official city logo.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

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SPRING CITY HISTORIC DISTRICT Sanpete County This small central Utah town has loomed disproportionately large on Utah's preservation scene. When the entire town was designated a National Register historic district in 1980, it was noted as the best-preserved 19th-century Mormon village. Since then it has had more buildings restored per capita than any other Utah town, in the process it has become a showcase for preservation, drawing hundreds of Utahns from the Wasatch Front to its annual home tour. And it's not just homes that have been restored; a church, school, town hall, commercial buildings, barns, summer kitchens, granaries, chicken coops, fences, and even outhouses have been saved. While growth

and demolitions

challenge

its

historic

integrity, Spring City demonstrates rural and cultural landscape preservation better than any other locale.

Spring City has become a showcase for preservation, drawing hundreds of Utahns from the Wasatch Front to its annual home tour.

TERRITORIAL

STATEHOUSE

50 W. Capitol, Fillmore Utah's first capital, constructed in 1855, was also the state's first effort at acquiring and restoring an historic building for tourism purposes. The state obtained this handsome Federal-style building from Fillmore City in 1927 and undertook a three-year effort

convert

pioneer

museum.

Arrangements were made with the Daughters of Utah Pioneers to manage the facility. Much of the rehab work at that time involved simply finishing the interior of the building, which was never completed during its short tenure as capital (it hosted only one full-term session of the territorial legislature). While this was not exactly restoration work, it nevertheless represents a significant early preservation effort by the state and it laid the groundwork for adding other historic properties to the state park system in the 1950s and'60s.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

TROLLEY

SQUARE

550 S. 700 East, Salt Lake City Renovation of these abandoned trolley barns in 1972 was the most ambitious and innovative adaptive use project ever undertaken in Utah. With this project, developer Wally Wright opened the eyes of thousands of Utahns to the possibilities of preservation as an economic development tool. It was a hit from the start, and for almost thirty years Trolley Square has been one of the most successful shopping destinations in the state. Though the developers didn't know at the time all the preservation techniques we know now (for instance, there are better ways to clean brick than by sandblasting), we certainly can't second-guess Wright's foresight and boldness in pursuing this project.

WASHINGTON

COTTON

FACTORY

385 W. Telegraph Street, Washington This 1865-70 industrial building symbolizes the early history of Utah's Dixie better than any other structure. The production of cotton in this temperate climate was a key element of Brigham Young's plan for a self-sufficient Zion. The cotton industry never blossomed as hoped, however, and the building fell into a century-long decline. It was not until 1986 that the stone shell-of-a-building found a benefactor in the unlikely form of a non-Mormon, out-of-state woman. Inspired to "do something" after driving by the derelict building, Norma Cannizzarro purchased and refurbished it with only a vague "community gathering" purpose in mind for its use. Her eight-year effort and ownership saved one of the most significant of Utah's earliest industrial buildings. Currently, a successful nursery business occupies the venerable structure.

WOOLLEY-FOSTER HOUSE/ S E V E N W I V E S INN 217 N. 100 West, St. George In 1981, no one in southern Utah had heard of such a thing as a bed-and-breakfast inn. B&Bs were virtually unknown even along the more enlightened Wasatch Front. Enter Jay and Donna Curtis from California. Their Utah roots, the mild climate of St. George, and the availability of this 1873 adobe house conspired to lure them into this unproven venture. Business was worrisomely slow at first, but word-of-mouth advertising from satisfied guests quickly erased all doubts. Today, scores of historic house B&B's dot the landscape of both urban and rural Utah. Seven Wives Inn, now in its twentieth year, has been an inspiration for many of them. It introduced to hundreds of Utahns a new way to reuse historic homes. Âť

UTAH

PRESERVATION

P R E S E R V A T I O N

P R O F I L E

COOPER/ROBERTS

ARCHITECTS,

AIA

700 N. 200 W. Salt Lake City, Utah 84103 ph (801) 355.5915 fx (801) 355.9885

and conveying systems. A primary goal is to recommend improvements which will preserve the architectural integrity of this landmark-the seat of state government. The Cooper/Roberts team will conduct comprehensive historical and architectural research to determine the Capitol's original use patterns, design, materials and finishes. Preserving the most character-defining public spaces and creating design guidelines to direct the sensitive restoration or renovation of secondary spaces, are among the teams project priorities. Throughout the project, the Cooper/Roberts team will work closely with the Capitol Preservation Board and its executive director, David Hart, AIA. About two thirds of the firm's projects since 1975 have involved historic buildings or quality older structures. During the last decade, however, Cooper/Roberts has grown and diversified, designing several significant new buildings, among the most recent being two intermodal transportation centers, two visitor centers, a city hall, senior center, and several commercial buildings. The two founding principals of the firm Wallace Cooper, AIA, and Allen Roberts, AIA are ably supported by principal Soren Simonsen, AIA, and a capable staff THE

YEAR

2000

marks the 25th anniversary

of the founding of

Cooper/Roberts Architects. It is also the year in which the firm will focus on one of the most significant preservation projects in the State of Utah - master planning the restoration of the Utah State Capitol and Capitol Grounds. Selected from a group of competing A/E firms, Cooper/Roberts views the State Capitol project as a challenging and exciting high point in its career-long specialization in historic preservation planning and design. The team assembled by Cooper/Roberts to tackle this important public project consists of sixteen other firms, each specializing in a discipline needed to complete a comprehensive analysis of the Capitol's physical facility needs. Among the team members are two structural consulting firms which have had extensive experience designing seismic upgrades of historic buildings without losing their architectural character. One firm completed the previous structural study of the Capitol while the other provided the engineering for the upgrade of the massive San Francisco City Hall. The historical architect on the $350 million San Francisco project was Carey And Co., also a member of the Cooper/Roberts team for the Utah Capitol project. The Capitol master plan will concentrate on three major priorities: enhancing life safety, improving functional usefulness, and preserving the historical and architectural integrity. The goal of the life safety analysis is to plan improvements that will result in no loss of life due to earthquakes, fires or breaches of security. Included in the analysis will be dynamic computer modeling showing how the Capitol will behave structurally during a seismic event before and after a seismic-resisting upgrade of the 1912-16 Neo-Classical building. To improve functional efficiency, interior and exterior space utilization and traffic flow will be studied, as will the mechanical, electrical, communications

P f l l f l l l V A T I0M PHDF1LE

of 24 designers, drafters and management personnel. Cooper/Roberts looks forward to the exciting architectural challenges offered by the new year and genesis of a new millennium.

T H O M A S PETERSON H A M M O N D ARCHITECTS

R E S E R V A T I O N

R 0

350 E. 2100 S. Salt Lake City, UT 84115 p h (801) 485.9661 fx (801) 485.9665

FOUNDED

F I

in 1973, TPH Architects'most recent

accomplishment is the renovation of historic Tenth Ward Square containing the only remaining buildings from Salt Lake City's original nineteen wards. Through sensitive and creative design, the 1909

chapel,

1887

school,

and

1873

meetinghouse, were stabilized structurally and the masonry and architectural finishes were restored. While the exterior rehabilitation is outstanding, it is the work on the interiors that makes this project work. Insensitive and poorly constructed connecting structures were replaced using sympathetic materials which allow the three historic building to be clearly delineated while functioning as one. Preservation projects such as this are not new to TPH. They have won multiple awards for their work on the Utah State Fairpark Grand and Home Arts Building. Their award winning evaluation of, and design for, the Fairpark Grand Building transformed it into the functional exhibit hall it is today. In addition to rehabilitation projects, TPH has extensive experience with other commercial, institutional, and religious structures. They are responsible for multiple medical buildings, student housing projects, schools and churches across the state.

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%Wr governor Simon Bamberger builds Lake Park on banks of Great Salt Lake. The resort includes fun houses, Shoot-theChutes, and a dance pavilion.

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1896: Due to receding water levels, Bamberger moves Lake Park inland and renames it Lagoon Resort. 1906: The Hershell-Spillman carousel, built in 1893, arrives at Lagoon. 1 9 2 1 : Giant Coaster is built.

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1927: Swimming pool cemented and water filtered: "Swim in w a t e r fit-to-drink." 1929: Tilt-a-Whirl, Rockets, and Aeroplane Swing built.

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1940s: Lagoon forced to close during summer due to high gas prices and lack of materials.

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1946: Lagoon re-opened by Freeds, w h o lease the park from Bambergers.

University of Utah, Graduate Student ApartriH

^ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN WEST, INC. ARCHITECTS

•

PLANNERS

•

1 9 5 3 : Fire destroys much of the resort, including the ballroom, part of the coaster, the Fun House, and others. Firemen save the carousel.

CONSULTANTS

2 3 0 E. S O U T H T E M P L E

255 S O U T H 300 W E S T

1795 SIDEWINDER AVENUE

SALT LAKE CITY, U T A H

L O G A N , UTAH

P A R K CITY, U T A H

(801)539-8221

(435)752-7031

(435)655-9337

1954: Lagoon is rebuilt and expanded, using fire-resistant materials. 1956: First theme section built: Mother Goose Land. 1968: Opera House Square opens.

S E R V I N G T H E I N T E R M O U N T A I N A R E A FOR 109

YEARS 1976: Pioneer Village comes to Lagoon. 1983: Freed family buys Lagoon. 1989: Swimming pools replaced by Lagoon-A-Beach water park. 1993: Carousel turns 100 years old and is given a major restoration.

PRESERVATION

M I N D I N G M

T H E A

HOW LAGOON B A L A N C E S

N O V E L T Y

A N D

N O S T A L G I / .

â&#x20AC;˘ *-

REBEKAH

SMITH

heir friends warned them that an amusement park was no place to raise a familyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;they would be sorry. But in

1928 Milton

and

Margaret Hess packed everyone up and moved to Lagoon. Here they would spend the next nineteen years

of their lives, where Milton worked as one of Lagoon's carpenters. Life was somewhat of a roller coaster ride

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itself. Living on the amusement park property meant busy, noisy summers and lonely winters. There was always something that needed to be built or repaired. Then there was a depression, followed by a world war and a summer when gasoline was rationed and Lagoon couldn't open because people couldn't drive out there. The place was "like a graveyard," recalls Margaret, "so lonely and quiet." Today I can somewhat picture what those lonely times must have been like. It is November. The park closed one week ago for the winter and the streets are cluttered only with dry leaves. The rides are abandoned and restful. The blue air is still. It is a far cry from the bustling Lagoon of crowded streets and long lines that I remember as a child. I feel almost as if I'm in a museum. An amusement park museum. Or a ghost town. One thing is certain: the sense of history here is strong. And indeed, it's a history that spans the century, as

Cir* Vi ",

the lineup of attractions can attest. There's the 1921 Giant Coaster, not far from the Colossal Fire Dragon of the '80s. There's the Dodgem Cars and antique SkeeBall machine of the '50s, the Tilt-a-Whirl from the '30s, the 1961 Space Scrambler and the 1974 Log Flume, not to mention a turn-of-the-century merry-go-round and a dance pavilion-turned-picnic terrace. But the question is this: Will they last? In an industry that relies heavily on the new and exciting, is there a place for old relics of the past?

"Novelty is the core of the amusement park industry," notes architectural historian Korral Broschinsky, who focused her graduate studies on Lagoon, "but nostalgia can also be a powerful, and profitable, stock-in-trade as well." Novelty and nostalgia. Preservation and profitability. Balancing and blending these is a skill-testing game worthy of Lagoon's midway.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

FROM LAKE PARK TO THEME PARK The history of Lagoon reads like a textbook of amusement park history: Following nationwide trends, it evolved from recreational resort to pleasure garden to mechanical amusement park to theme park. It all began in 1886 as a beach resort called Lake Park, situated 2.5 miles from Farmington on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. But after a few years the waters of the ever-changing lake receded. In 1896 the management bought some swampy pastureland from farmers near the town of Farmington. They graded and excavated the land to form two large ponds, moved some buildings from the lakeshore, and christened the new inland pleasure park "Lagoon," a place where visitors could enjoy boating, swimming, dancing, music, and food. It was all very successful from the beginning, thanks to the clean, "high-class" atmosphere and to the railroad that stopped practically at Lagoon's doorstep, making it a convenient midway point between Salt Lake City and Ogden. Among the earliest attractions were "Shoot-the-Chutes," a merry-go-round, and a miniature railway. By 1940 the park included the Giant Coaster, Dodgem Cars, Rockets, Tilt-a-Whirl and a Fun House. Lagoon barely survived the lean years of World War II and a fire that destroyed much of the park on November 14, 1953. Park buildings were rebuilt using fire-resistant cinder blocks and concrete. In 1956 the first thematic section appeared: Mother Goose Land, followed later by Opera House Square (1968), and Pioneer

Architect's rendering of the park following a 1953 fire.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

Village (1976). Since its first opening, Lagoon has been steadily growing. "We try to add a new ride every year," says Dick Andrew, vice president of marketing, "to give people a reason to come back." But while novelty remains a vital aspect of the

Lagoon has never had any written policies for preservation per se, but it does have a stringent maintenance regimen, which is the heart of any preservation effort. Plus Lagoon board chairman Peter Freed himself is a committed preservationist, having served for

People come here and feel that comfortable, pleasant environment that hearkens back to the pastâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;they come year after year, many since they were children. business, Lagoon markets something else: nostalgia. Andrew, mild mannered and towering, walks next to me and points out the attractions. He began his career at Lagoon in 1956â&#x20AC;&#x201D;operating a game. "Lagoon itself is testament to preservation," he begins. "Of course, it's my job to say these things, but it's also true. People come here and feel that comfortable, pleasant environment that hearkens back to the pastâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; they come year after year, many since they were children." This strong sense of tradition and nostalgia seems to be one major reason that preservation plays such a large role in the park's management. In fact, during the fire of 1953 firefighters saved the old merry-go-round from the nearby raging flames by dousing it with constant streams of water. Many of these firemen had probably enjoyed rides on the carousel as children. Nostalgia and memory run deep at the heart of Lagoon, its patrons, and its employees.

years on the board of the Utah Heritage Foundation. Lagoon's restoration and preservation efforts are ongoing and never ending. Every fall after Halloween, after the visitors have left and the park is left peaceful and deserted, the real work begins. All of the rides are disassembled and taken to shops where parts are tested, replaced, refurbished, and repainted. "That's why the rides last so long," says Andrew, "They are meticulously maintained, in addition to the daily testing." Lagoon employs 175 year-round employees; half of these belong to maintenance crews. THE GIANT COASTER Of the old structures that survived the fire, three have especially long and illustrious histories and are prime candidates for preservation: the Giant Coaster, a carousel dating back to the turn of the century, and the original Lake Park dancing pavilion, now a picnic terrace. Though it was built in 1921 and was partly burned in 1953, the Giant Coaster "remains one of our most popular rides," notes Freed, whose family has run Lagoon since the mid-1940s. Visitors stand in long lines to experience the thrill of the rickety ride and take in the nostalgic sense of the past. "The casual observer thinks they're riding an antique," says Andrew, "but they're not, really." The timbers of the great structure rot and are constantly replaced. The tracks have been replaced several times, and as technology has changed, so has the ride; computers now monitor the location and spacing of cars, the braking systems, etc. "In all candor, the only thing original about it is its configuration." I was relieved to hear this, recalling terrifying rides of my childhood and the sure feeling that the old thing was going to fall apart

Upper and lower left: The 1893 merry-go-round, a perennial favorite, was brought to the park in 1906 and restored in 1993. The Rose Terrace (above right) originally topped the Lake Park Terrace (lower right), which was moved in from its lakeside location in 1896. Structural concerns threaten its future.

beneath me. But the ride, designed by the nationally renown John A. Miller ("the Thomas Edison of roller coasters"), remains an icon of Lagoon, a symbol of a bygone era, and a favorite of the "Coaster Enthusiasts," a nationwide club that you can bet knows their coasters. It will, Freed assures me, forever remain. THE CAROUSEL The carousel is another ride that Freed is down-and-determined to keep. You might wonder why, when you consider how much money could be made by selling its handcarved, hand-painted wooden animals, which date from the turn of the century (each animal is valued at anywhere between $5,000 and $86,000). The carousel is one of less than 300 operating Hershell-Spillman carousels in America. Each of the 47 carousel animals, including a chicken, a frog, a sea dragon, and a long-horned goat, were carved from poplar or basswood laminated

together with pegs and glue. Finish work on one animal often took a carver 40 to 60 hours. Great effort also goes into preserving and maintaining each one, as well as the beautiful structure that houses them. In 1993, on its hundred-year birthday, the carousel received a major makeover, and now it reigns in all its original Victorian splendor. The restoration included stripping paint off the wooden figures and meticulously repainting and refinishing. "I sometimes wonder why we don't just sell it and replace it with cheaper resin animals that you can just scrub down when its time to refinish," Andrew ponders. But the value of keeping it, he admits, goes beyond anything that can be measured monetarily. Freed adds that the carousel is another one they will never let go.

Terrace, built in 1886 and one of the original buildings that once stood on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, I was met with sighs and the shaking of heads. Designed by architect Richard Kletting (1858-1943), who also designed the Utah State Capitol, the original Salt Palace, and the first Saltair, the wood peg-constructed pavilion is an architectural treasure. But since its days as a dancing and roller-skating hot spot, it has undergone significant changes. When it was moved from the original lakeside site, its height was lowered. Later, much original latticework was removed, and the crowning cupola that once sat on top now sits on the ground and is used as a smaller pavilion (the Rose Terrace). These are changes that impair its historical integrity and probably prevent it from being listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

LAKE PARK TERRACE

Now the building seems to be something of a restorer's nightmare; after several refurbishings, the building still has problems, worst of all an unstable roof. "The thing is

Preservation is not always as cut and dried, though. When I asked about the Lake Park

UTAH

PRESERVATION

Picnics have a long tradition at Lagoon (1931 photo). Management is committed to keeping this tradition going, while virtually no other amusement park in the country allows food to be brought in.

114 years old," says Freed, "When it was on the lake, it didn't have good foundations or anything to protect the wood from the soil. They didn't do anything to make it permanent . . . . If there's any way to save it, we will." But since the building doesn't generate much money anyway, its future is uncertain.

THE BALANCING ACT What about the other rides? The Ferris Wheel? The Rockets? The Wild Mouse and the Paratroopers? Will they last? The basic rule of thumb is this: as long as rides are popular (i.e. making money) and in working condition, they will stay, says Freed. That means that the Flying Carpet (1982) will

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UTAH

PRESERVATION

probably soon have to go to make room for newer, faster, more expensive rides. And the rides that stay must be safe. Some, such as the Fun House, first built in 1929, had to be closed down due to liability concerns. The gardens and the picnic areas do not really generate much revenue, but their value goes beyond that of money. These places encourage family reunions, company parties, and get-togethers of all sorts, and they accommodate the elderly who like to join their families at Lagoon but who may not be up for a Giant Coaster ride. "I don't know of another amusement park in the whole country that lets people bring in their own food," observes Freed, "but picnics at Lagoon are a tradition, and we intend to keep that tradition going." The ownership of Lagoon itself is something of an anachronism. Independently owned amusement parks are virtually unheard of anymore; most are owned now by corporations with little appreciation for notions like history and tradition. Lagoon is unique in one other sense as well: it is the only survivor of the many bathing and amusement parks that once dotted the Utah landscape, especially along the shores of Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake. Today, Margaret Hess might not recognize parts of Lagoon. Rides have gotten faster and flashier. Lots of new features have been added, and some old favorites have been taken down. But certainly some important structures remain, including a few of those that Margaret's beloved husband helped build and maintain so many years ago. This balance of preservation and progress is typical of historic preservation efforts everywhere, whether in a downtown business district, an historic neighborhood, or a college campus. It's probably just a little harder in an amusement park. But it can be done, and the results can have widespread benefits. It has turned out that not only was Lagoon a good place for both the Hesses and the Freeds to raise their families, but also for thousands of other Utah families who have found it to be a valuable part of their growing-up years, a place where both nostalgia and novelty make memories. * REBEKAH SMITH IS AN ARTIST, GRAPHIC DESIGNER, AND FREELANCE WRITER LIVING IN OREM.

IN 1896, S I M O N B A M B E R G E R I N T R O D U C E D F U N TO U T A H .

HOWEVER, SMILING W A S NOT INTRODUCED UNTIL. 1 9 0 2 . ^ ^ i n c e 1896, when Governor Simon Bamberger built Lagoon as a destination for the Bamberger Railroad, residents have been flocking to Lagoon to have a good time. A s one of the longest-running amusement parks in the West, Lagoon continues to provide generations of U t a h n s with thrills, entertainment, and most of all, fun. Fortunately, smiling is now a â&#x20AC;˘ guaranteed part of the experience.

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R E S E R V A T I O N

R 0

F I

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DANIEL PETERSON, DECORATIVE ARTIST TO THE TRADE p h (801) 524.0151 fx (801) 366.9981

TO SEE DANIEL PETERSON'S superb work without meeting the man himself might be misleading. Specializing in ornamental and decorative painting and restoration, his work is so luminous and intricate that it might have been spun from fairy hands. Yet Peterson's hands are far from delicate and ethereal. They are rough, solid workman's hands complete with cracks, calluses, ragged fingernails and traces of wood stain. They are the hands of a man dedicated to his art and immersed in the creation of beauty. Born to Protestant Missionary parents in Japan and educated at an International School, Peterson was exposed early to artistic and cultural variety. His boarding-school English streams like silver from behind the tangled thicket of his chest-length beard. Looking more like a lumberjack than an artisan, he settles into a bedraggled buff armchair and explains his preservation ethic. "People don't see restoration improvements like wiring, plumbing, and seismic improvements. They see the finishes of the surfaces and the details of those finishes. As humans, we interact with visual detail. Anyone who is serious enough about restoring a structure to strengthen and repair the hidden structural elements, should be willing to finish the aesthetic details properly." Mentoring for more than fifteen years with European master craftsmen, Peterson developed an extensive range of skills, including gilding, glazing, marbling, paint analysis, archival research, trompe I'oeil and mural painting. In demand worldwide, he has been summoned to oversee important details of restoration projects such as the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C "We tend to be too enamored of the tradesmen of yore," Peterson says. "There were just as many bad craftsmen then as there are today. And there are just as many fine craftsmen available now as there were then, if not more. It is a mistake to be intimidated by the past." Locally, Peterson has worked on the restoration of the Governor's Mansion and the new Matheson Courthouse. With his staff and materials occupying an entire floor of a converted warehouse, he is currently accepting select projects. "We are a full-service decorative painting company, conversant in every style and technique. We are open to projects both large and small, which interest us. People must understand that from us they receive only first-class work, and they must be prepared to be appropriately amused by the cost." "It's not so much the size of the project as it is the soul," Peterson remarks, pulling a large wooden trunk from beneath a work bench. The trunk, a child's toy chest, is alive with minute Celtic motifs. Fish seem to swim across the top surface, nearly colliding with snakes knotted back upon themselves. Lions and lambs lying down together grace the front surface. Glowing with rich jewel tones, the finish evokes exotic images much like that of rare Kashmir papier mache. "This piece, for example, is a labor of love;" Peterson smiles, "reproducing what once existed is by no means an impossible standard."

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UTAH

PRESERVATION

The Conservation of

ower

Square Tower (foreground) is one of a number of 800-year-old structures embellishing a narrow canyon in southeastern Utah. The National Park Service faces the challenge of preserving these fragile resources.

When National Park Service Archeologist Eric Brunnemann looks at the sites of Hovenweep National Monument, he sees more than the physical towers of Hovenweep: he sees the story of an ancient people. "In order to unpack the Pueblo world or begin to understand it," explains Brunnemann, "you have to see everything as a metaphor." Understanding how the towers of Hovenweep are metaphoricallyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and spirituallyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;connected to their surrounding landscape has guided not only how the National Park Service interprets this site, but how it plans to conserve Hovenweep's 800-year-old towers. Located on the Utah-Colorado border of the Four Corners region, Hovenweep rests on the gently sloping, sage- and juniper-cov-

UTAH

PRESERVATION

ered plateau of the Cajon Mesa. The mesa is a starkly beautiful land of red-rock desert, vivid blue skies, and an austerity befitting the name of Hovenweep, which is a Ute word for deserted valley. The mesa receives only eleven inches of moisture annually at the site of Square Tower Group, and it is rent by small, narrow canyons running southwest to the San Juan River. In this arid world, ancestral Puebloans (called Anasazi in Navajo) depended on the canyon seeps for needed water and spiritual connection to the landscape. Around A.D. 1200, the ancestral Puebloans moved from their mesa-top villages into the region's numerous small canyons, building the towers for which Hovenweep is famous. And then, by A.D.

1300, they moved again, migrating south to the Rio Grande and Little Colorado River basins of New Mexico and Arizona. Archeologists theorize that the ancestral Puebloans moved from the mesa tops into the canyons and erected their towers in order to protect valuable sources of water in an environment that was becoming increasingly arid. (Tree rings substantiate that a severe, twenty-year drought began in 1276, which probably caused the southern migration of the ancestral Puebloans to new land.) Archeologists also theorize that the towers may have been defense fortifications, celestial observatories, or ceremonial structures. Brunnemann, who has worked as both an archeologist and an ethnographer with modern Pueblos for many years, believes the

answer is bound up in the Puebloan view of the world. "When you listen to traditional clan society leaders, they have a seamless, absolutely timeless approach to describing the world and how it operates," says Brunnemann. "If you use that as your basic template, everything else fits in very nicely, including if there was warfare or a change in the environment. "If you want to sustain the periphery of your world, all the landscape surrounding Hovenweep and all the lands that were drying out because of drought... you have to work on the center. The world is literally like a bowl with a kiva in the center. It makes perfect sense to any Hopi or Eastern Puebloan traditional leader that people would move into these openings in the earth where there are seeps or water because in the next world, the world below us, there is an abundance of water." The Hovenweep Square Tower Group is typical of these canyon pueblos. The towers were built around the rim of Little Ruin Canyon and on the talus slopes below the rim. Square Tower, over twenty-one feet high, is built on top of a large sandstone boulder near the canyon head seep. "In the case of Square Tower," Brunnemann explains, "it now seems apparent that the tower and its kiva were placed virtually on top of the seep at the head of Little Ruin Canyon for a deliberate purpose that goes beyond just the architecture, and has everything to do with the hydrology of the

The boulder upon which Square Tower is built has proved to be a tenuous foundation. Excavations around the tower were part of a 1993 stabilization effort.

seen in the mortar. The preservation of these prehistoric towers has been an issue of concern to the National Park Service for several decades. Because of its proximity to the seep in Little Ruin Canyon, Square Tower has been

The towers exhibit "the finest prehistoric masonry in the United States. - President Warren G. Harding, 1923 canyon, the topography of Cajon Mesa, and the 'landscape' of the surrounding Puebloan universe." In 1923, when President Harding created Hovenweep National Monument, he noted that the towers exhibit "the finest prehistoric masonry in the United States." The ancestral Puebloans shaped the individual stones for the towers by pecking at them with stone tools so the visible wall faces appear flat. They used mud mortar between the stones and finished the towers by covering the walls with a smooth coat of mud plaster. The fingerprints of these ancient builders can still be

especially vulnerable to erosion. In 1941, the National Park Service stabilized Square Tower with wooden props, struts, and braces. Two years later, NPS filled in the breaches in the walls with masonry. It installed steel reinforcements in the tower walls during 1947 and 1948, then, in 1960, constructed a concrete wall on the east and north faces of the boulder to support and protect the badly undercut lower portions. Despite these efforts, concerns about the stability of the tower were renewed in 1990. A National Park Service archeologist trimmed back a willow shrub that had been

blowing in the wind and marring the surface of the tower only to find that the boulder base and the mortar in Square Tower had eroded significantly. In 1993, the Square Tower Advisory Group, comprised of civil engineers, NPS architects from Santa Fe, a geologist, NPS archeologists from Mesa Verde National Park, and administrators, developed a Preservation Action Plan. They focused their conservation efforts on the Square Tower, the boulder upon which it stands, and the local environment. Their work included the removal of fill (wind-blown sand and accumulated vegetal debris) from the interior of the tower, stabilization of the north wall and both corners, and the installation of two small tubes in the southeast corner wall to drain away surface water. In 1995, work continued with re-pointing the mortar in the tower using an acrylic-modified earthen mortar, which is frequently used to enhance the weatherability of the mortar. A conservator cleaned the boulder to take away the heavy salts that had built up from the percolating water, and in 1996 and 1997 all of the exposed surfaces on the north and east faces of the boulder were treated with ethyl silicate, a stone strengthener that helps make

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soft surfaces like sandstone better resist water erosion. The Preservation Action Plan also called for a slight modification of the local environment. Removing brush from around the base of the tower and boulder and clearing the natural drainages allowed the seep water to flow down the canyon rather than saturate the soil around the tower. As a further measure, in 1993 a crew began excavating for a drain to be installed on the south side of the tower. When they encountered a previously unknown kiva, however, they abandoned the drain plan; no sense in destroying a significant feature of the site they were trying to preserve. The discovery of the kiva only confirmed the spiritual significance of Square Tower. "From archeology, we know that kivas are extremely important to native Puebloan communities," says Brunnemann, "but realizing that now we have an extension to the kiva, the tower as well, it's clear that we are talking about a cultural landscape and we have to keep that in mind in our conservation efforts." Brunnemann intentionally uses the word conservation: "I don't use the word preserve. There's no way we could preserve things, like in a museum. If we did preserve them perfectly we would be killing the site, it would be that clean and sterile. Right now we are taking a very deliberate, very painstaking, pragmatic approach." That deliberate approach complicates the issue of conservation because the National Park Service prefers to use only those conservation techniques that respect the prehistoric cultural integrity of the site. Some of the possible solutions to preserving Square Tower, such as lowering the water table and dredging or channeling Little Ruin Canyon, will not be employed. "Realizing the connectivity between landscape, towers and kivas," says Brunnemann, "the conservation of Square Tower must be handled in a manner that does not conflict with the natural course of the canyon's water table or demonstrably impact the seepâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which is partly the reason the boulder that Square Tower rests upon is deteriorating." Current conservation efforts focus on archeological documentation and minimally invasive procedures that will curb severe deterioration while maintaining the structure's architectural integrity. Funding was acquired from the National Park Service's Vanishing Treasures program, which was

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Above: Square Tower (left) is located at the head of a narrow arroyo, near the life-sustaining seep. Center: Carefully chiseled stones used in the construction of the towers still bear the marks

their

makers.

Below: The Twin Towers are remnants of a two-story "apartment

house" con-

taining

least

sixteen

rooms. Each tower

con-

forms to the shape of the boulder upon which it sits.

^ #

Left: During a 1993 attempt to install a drain at the base of the tower, crews discovered a kiva, forcing abandonment of the drain project. Right: The visitor center will be moved back so it doesn't impinge on the views and overall presence of this ancient cultural landscape.

established in 1993, in part, to address emergency project needs like Square Tower where structures are in imminent danger from natural erosive agents. NPS archeologists thoroughly documented Square Tower Group structures by taking photographs that were matched to architectural drawings done by on-site archeological illustrators. Both the photographs and drawings are combined in a computer environment that generates three-dimensional site models. Once the original fabric and construction of the architecture are documented, then the structure is stabilized. At Square Tower the National Park Service has also created an extensive digital topographic map, with five-foot contours, of Little Ruin Canyon, and plans are underway to develop a subterranean geological map of the canyon. In this manner water movement through the canyon can be evaluated, and computer models will be used to detect and predict changes in the hydrology of Little Ruin Canyon. In addition to documenting and monitoring Square Tower, the National Park Service will continue its non-invasive procedures. NPS staff will keep the natural drainages in the canyon clear of brush and alluvial deposits, clean the drain tubes in the tower, remove wind-blown deposits from inside the tower, reapply ethyl-silicate coatings to the boulder when necessary, and possibly plant water-loving trees (native willows) to pull water away from the tower. There are other preservation issues at Hovenweep. The National Park Service plans to reduce park development immedi-

ately adjacent to Little Ruin Canyon in order to better preserve its prehistoric appearance. Visitation impacts have not been an issue at Hovenweep because the National Park Service is always working to judiciously manage its trails. A public trail around the rim of Little Ruin Canyon is carefully located to ensure that natural and cultural resources remain both visible and undisturbed. The desert soil of Cajon Mesa is very fragile and has an organic crust that naturally prevents soil erosion, but it is easily disturbed by foot traffic. The National Park Service has erected a single-strand chain fence to protect the towers and encourage visitors to stay on the trails, but even in their choice of fences, the National Park Service has remained sensitive to the landscape of the site. The single-strand chain fences are not visible from distances and are unobtrusive in photographs. The National Park Service also has plans to move the visitor center, which is currently visible from Square Tower Group. "Knowing now what we know about the Puebloan world, the issue of cultural landscape is truly as important as the structures themselves," explains Brunnemann. "If you look at photographs and documentaries and every book on Square Tower, people go to great lengths not to have the National Park Service building in their photos." The new National Park Service building will be located away from Little Ruin Canyon. "We're going to be very novel about this visitor center," says Brunnemann. "We're going to have interpretive and exhib-

it areas, and we have already contacted tribes from many of the native groups— Hopi, Pueblo, Navajo—to ask for their help in designing the exhibits." From a Western perspective it may seem paradoxical that the very reason for the existence of Square Tower, the seep at the head of Little Ruin Canyon, is also the cause of its erosion. But to a Puebloan elder there is no paradox because, as Brunnemann explains, "the 'specialness' of the landscape is the canyon as a corridor between places. Their ancestral kiva and tower (which are, by the way, one and the same) are religious vehicles within these natural corridors that will run their course or live their lives depending on the will of the landscape." To a Puebloan elder, the towers of Hovenweep are not simply an abandoned ruin; it is a pueblo that is still fulfilling its purpose. "To the Pueblo elders, Hovenweep is still alive, it's still living, it's still doing everything it was intended to do; it's just not doing it with people," says Brunnemann. "The towers and kivas were built to connect to the world below. The seep is still interacting with those structures to the point that some of them are deteriorating, which leaves us in the National Park Service in the position where we intervene. But we must be very careful that in our duty to take care of these towers, we don't lose track of why they were built in the first place." « JAN

NYSTROM

PROFESSIONAL

IS A

MARKETING/COMMUNICATIONS

AND FREELANCE

WRITER

LIVING

SALT LAKE CITY.

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Here's what we can do for you: Archaeological Survey & Data Recovery Ethnographic Survey & Tribal Consultation Historic Preservation Planning Biological Mitigation Clean Water Act Permitting Environmental Monitoring Habitat Conservation Plans Environmental Assessments Environmental Impact Statements Threatened & Endangered Species Surveys

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Environmental Consultants

230 South 500 East, Suite 230 Salt Lake City, Utah 84102 801-322-4307 Our mission is to provide environmental consulting services of the highest caliber based on our belief that assisting clients in reaching their objectives, and effectively managing natural and cultural resources, are complementary goals. Other offices in Albuquerque, Austin, Denver, Flagstaff (corporate), Houston, Phoenix, and Tucson. VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.SWCA.COM 36

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GILLIES S T R A N S K Y BREMS SMITH ARCHITECTS 375 W. 200 S. Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 ph (801) 521.8600 fx (801) 521.7913

GOOD

D E S I G N is simply a series of good choices," says David Brems, AIA, of GSBS. "An important

measure of our success is whether clients feel the design is as much their design as it is ours."

Gillies Stransky Brems Smith Architects Services: • Planning and Analysis

Good choices and a synergistic approach have served the firm and its clients well. Since its formation in 1978, GSBS (originally known as Brotherton/Gilles Architects) has grown from one office and a staff of two, to two offices and an organization that includes more than 80 design and architecture experts.

• Facilities & Space Planning • General Planning

* Feasibility Studies • Programming

A Synergistic Approach With their skilled team of architects, landscape architects, interior designers and planners working together, GSBS is truly a one-stop operation. There are no afterthoughts, no shortcuts and no compromises. All aspects of the project are conceived together and meticulously executed to meet clients' needs.

Architectural Design For:

• New Construction and Remodels • Corporate

• Public Sector • Residential

"I would like to be on record," writes a facilities planner for the Utah State Department of Human Services,

• Landscape Architecture

"in expressing my appreciation for the professional expertise, leadership and service given to me by the firm

• Interior Design

of GSBS over the past nine years. As anyone in the business knows, to carry out this complex process suc-

• Energy Efficient Design

cessfully on one project is difficult enough, but to have done it consistently on all projects for a client is truly

• Project Management

remarkable. GSBS must be providing the same professional service to their other clients, which would

• Consultation

explain the firm's successful and meteoric rise as one of Utah's largest and most successful firms."

Current Projects GSBS's current project list is as impressive as it is diverse, including: the Utah Olympic Oval; the Gateway Retail Center; the St. Thomas More Catholic Church; the South Towne Exposition Center; the IHC Lake Park Office Complex; and the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Visitors Centers.

Cooperation and Ownership "The process is really important to us," says Stephen Smith, FAIA, AICP. "By the end of a project, we want everybody to feel like they really own the solution. We've had clients say they feel like 'proud parents' of their new buildings, and that's great."

Union Pacific Interior

;, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, was built in 1898 at this location to convenient railroad access ( opposite above, 1904 photo). This is the most elaborate of Walter u?es in this industrial neighborhood.

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WALTER WARE'S

WAREHOUSES BY FRAN PRUYN

alter Ellsworth Ware, FAIA, practiced architecture for sixty years in Salt Lake City. Not surprisingly, a good number of buildings in downtown Salt Lake City were designed in his offices. It is also not surprising that many Ware (or Ware and a partner) designs are still standing: Westminster College's Converse Hall, Foster Hall and Payne Gymnasium, the Ladies Literary Club, the First Church of Christ Scientist, the Matthew Walker Mansion, and the First Presbyterian Church (to name just a few).What is surprising is how many of Ware's industrial buildings have been renovated and adapted for modern use. Schools, churches, and residences have, by their very nature, a longer lifespan than warehouses and even offices. Industrial buildings are utilitarian, straightforward designs, and over time they can become technologically outdated. The property becomes more valuable than the building. This has not proven true of industrial buildings in the area known as the "Warehouse Historic District" in Salt Lake City. Many of the warehouses built in this area from 1890 to 1930 are not only standing but also enjoying a renaissance as they are adapted for reuse. This district, which was cultivated around the railroad, is being revitalized as new owners recognize the value of this building stock. Why are these buildings still in use? It is not enough to say that they are simply interesting old buildings or that they "made buildings better then." While this may be true, plenty of warehouses from that period have been demolished. Others have survived because they are still usable buildings. These are buildings that are handsome, that have versatile spaces that easily accommodate new uses and modern buildings systems, and that were well built to begin with because they had to hold thousands of tons of warehoused materials. They are basic designs that are very adaptable to new uses. WALTER WARE, ARCHITECT Walter Ware designed three of the four large warehouses located on the south side of 200 South between 300 and 400 West streets in the heart of the historic district: the Crane Building (1910), the Symns Wholesale Grocery Company Building (1893) and the Henderson Block (1898). He also designed several of the other less stylized commercial and industrial buildings in the warehouse

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The 1910 Crane Building has changed little on the exterior since this 1924 photograph. Ware's dignified but functional designs have weathered the decades well.

district. Only Ware and architect William Folsom designed industrial buildings constructed in the last decade of the nineteenth century in Salt Lake City that are still standing. Ware, like many of his contemporaries, did not go to school to learn architecture. He was born in Needham, Massachusetts, in 1861. His father, Elijah Ware, was one of Sidney Dillon's (president of the Union Pacific Railroad) key functionaries in railroad construction. As Ware's father had developed many improvements on steam shovels, he was sent to many Western sites by Dillon to excavate hills to build the Union Pacific Railroad. The family eventually settled in Omaha, the headquarters of the Union Pacific. Ware lived in Omaha ten years. Walter apprenticed first in an architect's office and, later, for the Union Pacific in its drafting office. During this period, the UP sent Ware on the road to supervise building construction. He thrived in the Western frontier and, while honing his skills as an architect, became an accomplished hunter and horseman as well. In 1889, Ware left the UP, moved to Salt Lake City, and opened an architectural office. He remained in active practice in Utah until 1949. Ware partnered with architect Ezra M. Cornell during his early Salt Lake tenure. The firm is credited for the design of the Symns Wholesale Grocery Company Building in 1892-93 (327-331 West 200 Southâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;now known as the Warehouse

District Condominiums) and various houses in the Avenues area of Salt Lake City. In 1902, Alberto O. Treganza joined Ware in practice. Treganza was 15 years younger than Ware. Born in Denver, he studied architecture at Cornell University, worked in San Diego, and arrived in Salt Lake City in 1901. From the beginning of their partnership (which lasted for 25 years) Treganza was the principal designer, while Ware assumed the business responsibilities, including writing specifications. Despite the longevity of the association, associates reported considerable friction between the partners. Georgius Y. Cannon, who was employed by Ware and Treganza early in his architectural career, attributed this to a "clash of temperament." "Ware was steady," Cannon said, "about the hardest worker I have ever known, and very persistent in wanting to carry out the meticulous details of a project." Treganza was reportedly more "volatile and dogmatic." The firm of Ware and Treganza was well known for maintaining high ethical standards and giving careful attention to construction supervision. Their practice had a regional impact, and during this middle period of Ware's career, the commissions ranged from large club buildings to schools, large residences, and warehouses in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. Ware and Treganza dissolved the practice in 1926, and Treganza returned to Southern California. Ware continued his architectural

practice alone for many years before being joined by Lloyd McClenahan in 1938. This business relationship continued until Ware retired from active practice in 1949 at the age of 87. Georgius Cannon reported that the year Ware was 83 he did the largest volume of work he had ever done in his architectural career. WAREHOUSES ON 200 SOUTH Prior to the railroad's expansion in the 1880s, the west end of Second South was largely residential. Business owners began to buy the property and replace homes with warehouses when, in the 1880s, a double set of railroad tracks was run down 400 West.

The proximity to the railroad encouraged intrastate commerce, and Salt Lake businessmen were quick to construct industrial buildings near the railroad lines. With the completion of the new Union Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande stations in the first decade of the twentieth century, more and larger warehouses were built, further transforming the neighborhood. Ware's Second South warehouses are typical of late nineteenth- and early twentiethcentury commercial warehouse architecture. They are large brick and concrete structures that feature rectangular plans and multiplebay facades. These utilitarian, industrial and commercial buildings do not demonstrate high-style architecture, but instead provide a

NWALL WAREHOUSE !?5f!!?*.?toi3ge a ^ DfsMbyflon SPRINKLES SYSTIM

wealth of possibilities for adaptive re-use because of their flexibility. SYMNS WHOLESALE GROCERY COMPANY BUILDING (327-331 WEST 200 SOUTH) The Symns Utah Grocery Company wholesalers, hired Walter Ware and Ezra Cornell to design this warehouse, built between 1892 and 1893. The company occupied the building for the next fifty years. Like many warehouses, the offices for the business were located on ground level, while warehouse functions occupied the upper three stories. The symmetrical, four-bay facade features an arcade of four round arches over the upperfloor windows and molded rectangular panels at each floor. After its career as a produce warehouse, the Symns Building was owned by Western Toy & Hobby and known as Twirl Town Toys. During the 1990s this building was sold and renovated into the Warehouse District Condominiums, at which time tilelike panels were added at the base of the facade. The Madison Restaurant currently occupies the main floor. HENDERSON BLOCK (375 WEST 200 SOUTH)

By 1999, growth in the emerging "Gateway" district prompted the removal of railroad tracks, which had been the lifeblood of the warehouse district a century earlier. Below right: Symns Warehouse prior to its 1996 rehab. Most buildings along the street had been vastly underutilized for years until the resurgence of the late 1990s. Below left: A restaurant currently occupies the main floor; condominiums are above.

The Henderson Company was formed the same year that Walter Ware came to Salt Lake Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;1889. Wilbur Henderson, who had experience freighting produce on the Missouri and Arkansas rivers, came to Utah to purchase cattle for Silas W Eccles, general freight agent for the Union Pacific Railroad. In Utah, Wilbur found an uncle struggling to run a small retail grocery business. "Gentile" (non-Mormon) grocers had difficulty competing with Mormon merchants who had organized cooperative stores and who benefited from lower prices due to cooperative farming and wholesaling. Wilbur managed his uncle's store for a couple of years as a retail grocer. He then started his own statewide wholesale produce business and located it along a railroad line to reduce distribution costs. In 1896, Henderson and Silas W Eccles purchased property at the intersection of 200 South and 400 West, and in July 1897 they obtained a building permit for a "brick and stone warehouse, three stories, $20,000, WE. Ware, architect." The Henderson Block, completed in

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1898, was the first produce warehouse built along the tracks. It is generally considered a high achievement in warehouse architecture and is one of Ware's best-preserved early works. The original building is a roughly 30,000 square-foot, three-story warehouse with a basement. The building is masonry, red brick and stone, built of post-and-beam construction. It is more decorative than most Utah brick warehouses. Historian John McCormick, in The Historic Buildings of Downtown Salt Lake City, observed that the building makes "an imposing statement of strength and order." He goes on to describe the building: The first level is of rusticated sandstone with large Roman arched bays containing windows and a set of double doors. Arranged symmetrically, pairs of square window bays in the second and third levels are situated directly over the arched bays of the street level... The most decorative element of the facade is an ornamental projecting cornice that is classically moulded and has a central pediment containing the inscription, "WS. Henderson." On its interior, the building contains a freight elevator and decorative metal vault. Like the Symns Building, the first floor was originally a store and offices, and the upper floors were unpartitioned open spaces to store produce. Inexplicably, Henderson's company did not immediately occupy the building. Although the building was completed in 1898, they first rented it to the CosgriffEnright Company, another grocery wholesaler. In 1906, Henderson vacated his Main Street store and moved into his own building as a "Wholesale Grocer," and in 1917 he sold his interests to the Utah Wholesale Grocery Company. The new company was very successful statewide. As the business grew, additions were made to the building to better utilize the railroad, which was the most efficient way to distribute product throughout the region. In 1931, a large one-story addition was made to the east as a shipping dock. A second addition was made in 1931 at the rear of the building to accommodate the railroad spur. A small final expansion was made in 1936, at an angle a few feet north of the railroad spur. Since that time, the Henderson Block has housed many businesses. The Utah Wholesale Grocery Company became the

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United Grocery and moved to a larger facility at the Salt Lake Hardware Building, a few blocks to the north. The Alcohol Beverage Control Commission later warehoused its supplies at the Henderson Block, until ClarkLearning, an interior design firm, purchased the building. Clark-Learning, which used the space also as a furniture showcase, extensively restored the building during the 1970s. The building was listed on the National Historic Registered in 1977. Subsequently, the Salt Lake Brewing Company purchased the building and used it as a restaurant, minibrewery, and offices. The brewing company, during its renovation, seismically upgraded the building. The current owner, Gillies Stransky Brems Smith PC, purchased the building in 1997 and operates its architectural design firm from the first floor. GSBS continues to rent space to the brewery and other businesses. According to partner Stephen Smith, "We're pleased to be in a building of such stature and quality, and we hope our own work endures as well." CRANE BUILDING (307 WEST 200 SOUTH) The Crane Company, manufacturer of metal pipe fittings, was based in Chicago. The firm, which was founded in 1845 and patterned its successes on the technological advances of the industrial age, rapidly expanded both operations and geographic regions across the United States. By the late nineteenth century its capabilities included valves, fittings, steam warming systems, and hydraulic elevators. The company established a chemical laboratory, and the Crane engineers performed some of the first metallurgical research in the history of American industry. The Crane Company hired Ware and Treganza to design their new building and had it constructed in 1910 at an estimated cost of $100,000. The company had opened its Salt Lake branch in 1902 to take advantage of the booming local economy. As Utah miners reinvested some of their wealth into urban centers, the Crane Company lead the way by providing the buildings with up-todate plumbing, heating and engineering equipment. Crane supplies were fitted into many of the areas new building projects. The Crane Building is a five-story rectangular, industrial building with a basement. It boasted "fireproof construction," built with

a steel frame wall-bearing system, and an elevator shaft made of plaster blocks. Like the other two buildings already noted, the Crane Building historically used the first floor for offices and a machine shop and the upper floors as warehousing. One of the most distinctive elements of this building is the name of the company emblazoned in the raised parapets of the north and east facades. The building was renovated as offices in the late 1970s and housed the Utah State Historical Society for a few years prior to its move to the Denver & Rio Grande Depot. The Crane Building is currently an office building, with the Xiao Li Chinese restaurant and an art gallery occupying the street level. CONCLUSION These three buildings, designed by Walter Ware and his partners, have been excellent investments for both their original and current owners. They reflect an uncommon commitment to quality by those who designed and built them. While perhaps utilitarian in their day, these buildings actually feature architectural details that would be the envy of most of today's buildings, especially warehouses, which are usually the epitome of blandness. Ware's warehouses not only served their original purposes well, they have also proved to be very adaptable to new functions. Their sturdy construction and their very simplicity have allowed them to be revitalized into a multiplicity of uses: condominiums, restaurants, offices, manufacturing, retail and of course, storage. While these buildings may not be as well known as some of Ware's more prominent designs, they are important in their own right. They are among the best of the city's late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century industrial architecture, and collectively this neighborhood of warehouses is a one-of-akind historic district in Salt Lake City. The rehabilitation or these buildings has helped spark a boom of revitalization and construction this part of the city hasn't seen since Walter Ware first ventured down here over a century ago. *

FRAN

PRUYN

MARKETING

STRANSKY BREMS S M I T H .

DIRECTOR

FOR

GILLIES

Above: The large safe of the Henderson Block now serves as a secluded meeting room. Left: A stone fireplace beckons clients of the architectural firm that currently occupies the building.

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Oc^UHycs

IT W O N ' T

BE L O N G until memories are all that remain of Utah's older school buildings. A genocide-like

campaign has wiped out most of them and threatens those that remain. There are virtually no nineteenthcentury school buildings that still serve as schools, and the list of early twentieth-century schools is short and growing shorter by the day. Old schools are an endangered species. And it's a nationwide problem, not just a Utah phenomenon. There are plenty of reasonsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;some understandable and some notâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;why old schools have fallen out of favor. There seems to be just a little too much close-mindedness about how adaptable old buildings can be. Deficiencies in safety and technology are often cited as reasons why old schools are obsolete. But seismic upgrades, new fire sprinklers and exits, air conditioning, and wiring for computers are all very doable improvements. And retrofits are often cheaper alternatives to new construction. If the business world can rehab old buildings for new uses, as it has, then surely the educational system can do a better job of upgrading old schools to continue serving their original purpose. Sometimes the latest educational theories doom older schools. For example, the open-classroom concept, once highly praised, has been largely abandoned now, but only after dozens of traditional schools were replaced. Interestingly, old schools have a feature that has recently been found to stimulate better learning: lots of windows. A 1999 study by a California energy-consulting firm revealed that students in classrooms with windows performed significantly better than students who can't occasionally gaze at the sky. Maybe the next teaching theory will further validate the traditional classroom. Old schools may actually be on the cutting edge. Everyone attended school, and everyone has at least a few fond memories of those years. The photographs on the following pages may trigger some of those memories. Photographers from throughout the state submitted more than 130 photographs in our "Back to School" photo contest. The twelve shown here were selected as winners, and five of these twelve were given special recognition as Merit Award winners; contest sponsor Borge Andersen & Associates provided gift certificates to these five. Thanks to all who participated in the photo contest and to Borge Andersen for helping make the contest a success. Enjoy the images of these historic Utah schools. Perhaps they will inspire us to keep these buildings for our future and not just as vestiges of our past.

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BRIGHAM YOUNG ACADEMY 550 N. UNIVERSITY AVE., PROVO Richard Green, West Valley City

The Brigham Young Academy was founded in 1875 and this building was completed in 1891. It was the first of four buildings constructed on the block. The academy, which later became BYU, used these buildings exclusively until 1911, when new facilities began to be developed on the "upper campus." BYU sold the older buildings on the lower campus in 1975 to a private group. After several failed attempts by developers to rejuvenate the structures, Provo City stepped in to convert the main building into a new city library. That project is scheduled to be completed in 2001.

COLUMBUS SCHOOL, 2530 S. 500 E., SOUTH SALT LAKE C. Ray Varley, Holladay

"Fifth East is our route of choice when we are heading into town, and amid all the bungalows and small houses that mark that route we discovered one of the Salt Lake area's unique architectural attractions-the Columbus School. This Spanish Colonial Revival style school, with its prominent three-story tower, was designed by architect C.S. McDonald and constructed in 1916. It was last used for teaching purposes in the 1970s. South Salt Lake City has recently converted the building into a community/senior citizen center."

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TORREY LOG SCHOOL/MEETINGHOUSE, 49 E. MAIN (HIGHWAY 24), TORREY M a r k Hedengren, Provo

Merit Award Winner "This 1898 building served as both a schoolhouse and church in the small town of Torrey. What struck me most about this building was its artful construction, even though it is small. You would think that a town with such a small population would have had problems with constructing such a beautiful building. It shows the dedication of the settlers to both education and their religion."

FRUITA SCHOOL, CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK Barbara Poelman, Brigham City

This log school was built on land donated by Elija Behunin, whose daughter Nettie became the first school teacher at the age of fourteen. When the school opened in 1892 there were twentytwo students. The original pine desks held two students each. The schoolhouse was also used for dances, town meetings, elections, and church youth activities. Classes were held at the school until 1941 when it was closed.

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I3TH DISTRICT SCHOOL, 3600 N. 6000 W., GARLAND John Taylor, Tremonton Merit Award Winner "Like most people in this area, I passed by this old school many times without giving it much notice. When I stopped to take this photograph, however, I started "seeing" the building for the first time. I noticed the plaque in the decorative gable end: 13th District School, 1898.1 also noticed two large openings cut into the south wall for farm machinery storage and hay stacked inside the building. The image shown here is perhaps an idealized view of this old structure, more like an artist's rendition than the actual scene."

NORTH OGDEN ELEMENTARY 474 E. 2650 N, NORTH OGDEN Nathan Allred, Ogden

This handsome Art Decostyle school was constructed in 1934-36. The architect was Eber F. Piers, who designed over 300 buildings in the Ogden area during his 50-year career. This school was one of fifteen Depression-era buildings constructed in Weber County by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and other New Deal programs during the 1930s. One of the best known of these is Ogden High School, the premier example of the Art Deco style in Utah.

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OLD MAIN, UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY, LOGAN Brad Peterson, Logan

"Nestled in the cold Cache Valley snow, Old Main stands as a landmark to education. Thousands have followed their dreams and achieved their goals for higher education within these weathered walls."

SOUTH ROUND VALLEY SCHOOL, MORGAN COUNTY Linda Smith, Morgan

Merit Award Winner This one-room, random rubble school was constructed in the 1870s by pioneer resident Henry Olpin, a stone mason. This school/church is one of the few historic public buildings remaining in the county. It is located on property currently owned by the Round Valley County Club.

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MANTUA SCHOOL, 409 N. MAIN, MANTUA Rebecca Dilg, Brigham City "This charming little schoolhouse was built in 1928, having been completed during the Christmas break. When the children returned to school they were thrilled to use the new two-room building with a furnace and two restrooms. A hallway separating the classrooms, which held three grades each (K-3 and 4-6), was where the children liked to play the 'Eraser Game.' The building has not been used as a school since the 1960s. The town of Mantua currently uses the school as the town hall."

DESERET SCHOOL, 4100 W. 4500 S., DESERET Kristel Skeem, Oasis

Merit Award Winner This school was built in 1895, replacing an earlier schoolhouse on this site. It served as a schoolhouse only until 1914, when a larger school was completed. In the 1920s Louis Schoenberger purchased the school and remodeled it into a home and boarding house for schoolteachers. He lived here until his death in 1972. Locally the old school is known as the "Schoenberger Place."

UTAH

PRESERVATION

WHITTIER SCHOOL, 290 N. 400 E., LOGAN Brandon Stauffer, Logan

Merit Award Winner A staircase and water fountain in the 1908 Whittier School are typical features of schools of this period, though most of those buildings have been demolished. This school housed one of the state's first kindergartens, which was started in 1927. Classes ceased in 1966, though the building has continued to the present serving a variety of community educational purposes.

PETEETNEET SCHOOL, 10 S. 600 E., PAYSON Brice Peterson, Provo

Built on land once used by Payson City as a gravel pit, the Peteetneet Academy was erected in 1901 and named after a Ute chief who lived in the area when the town was established. The exterior was constructed with yellow brick and red sandstone, which is thought to have been quarried in nearby Spanish Fork Canyon. The building opened its doors to students in 1902 and served the community of Payson for over 80 years as an elementary school. It now serves as a museum and community art center.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

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UTAH

PRESERVATION

A log corral on the Dugout Ranch shows that cowboy traditions continue in the heart of Utah's red-rock country.

UTAH PRESERVATION

Dugout Ranch:

n a quiet corner of some of the most spectacular red-rock country on earth, the spirit of the West is alive and well and off on an adventure into new territory. A new scenario in preservation is unfolding in San Juan County, Utah. The story began when, in 1993, the owners of the Dugout Ranch realized the difficulties they faced in dividing the ranch's assets among family members. The Redds faced the real possibility of having to sell their ranch. But what would become of this living piece of history? The Dugout Ranch represents an ongoing ranching tradition first established in the early 1900s, when J. A. Scorup began building up his cattle herds in the area. Scorup and partner Bill Somerville would eventually control the Indian Creek Cattle Company, one of the largest cattle operations in the West at the beginning of the century. Included in the huge Scorup/Somerville holdings was the Dugout Ranch, so named because the first settlers there lived in dugouts. The Dugout was eventually sold to fabled cattleman Charlie Redd and became part of the massive range holdings in Redd's LaSal Cattle Company. In 1966, Charlie's son Robert Redd and his bride Heidi acquired the ranch as newlyweds. After divorcing in 1985, Robert moved to Virginia, while Heidi and sons Matt and Adam remained on the ranch. Heidi and her sons built reputations both as skilled ranchers and as responsible stewards of the landâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and the magnificent country of the Dugout Ranch was worthy of their conscientious management. Sprawling over 255,000 acres at the north of the Abajo Mountains and east of Canyonlands National Park, the ranch is home to black bear, cougar, deer, wild turkey, and rare plant species. Plant communities range from aspen and ponderosa pine forests on the flanks of the Abajos to salt desert shrub at the lower elevations. Lining forty-two miles of streams are lush stands of cottonwood and willow. And, of course, the ranch contains stunning geologic features; an internationally acclaimed rock-climbing area skirts the northeastern edge of the ranch. Centuries of human occupation are readily evident in the numerous prehistoric sites and remnants of early post-European settlement scattered throughout the ranch's boundaries. That occupation continues today at ranch headquarters, located along State Route 211. Here, a sense of ongoing life, history, and story echoes between the vermilion cliffs, the irrigated pastures, the log corncribs, and the tack sheds smelling deeply of horse-sweat and hayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with a power that is undeniable. "The country got a hold of me..." Robert Redd once said in an interview. "This country does that to people."

UTAH

PRESERVATION

Left: Heidi Redd. Right: A chimney is all that's left of one of the cabins on the ranch. A cultural inventory is underway to identify all the historic and prehistoric features on the ranch.

Indeed, when word spread that the Dugout Ranch might be available for purchase, the notion "got a hold" of many people. Its fate, at this point, was unpredictable. Golf courses and condominiums? Five-acre

The Nature Conservancy. In the beginning, each side was uncertain of the other, but over time these two disparate parties formed a partnership. On September 23, 1996, The Nature Conservancy signed a one-year

"Dugout Ranchettes"? An international destination spa retreat for the super-rich? A vacation-retreat city on the outskirts of Canyonlands National Park, a la the Grand Canyon's South Rim? With the future of a prime piece of real estate up in the air, the traditionally heated conflicts between different western interests began to simmer. The rich-and-famous made serious overtures toward purchase of the property. The National Park Service claimed that the ranch was a 'natural' geological extension of Canyonlands. Various environmental groups envisioned the retirement of grazing rights for large chunks of the ranch. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Heidi Redd was slowly developing a plan of her own. Heidi had fallen in love with the land and its ways: its history, its stories, and its ability to move the human spirit to understand beauty and the interconnectedness of life in profound ways. It was this clear passion that guided her search for a way to preserve the ranch and the land it occupied. The search led Heidi, Robert, and their two sons into four years of negotiations with

option with members of the Redd family to purchase the Dugout Ranch. After an exhaustive acquisition and fund-raising process (kudos must be given here to the tire-

UTAH

PRESERVATION

less efforts of Chris Montague and Dave Livermore of the Utah Nature Conservancy office), the Dugout Ranch purchase was completed on December 10, 1997. Through an unlikely partnership, the ranch was preserved. The Nature Conservancy had agreed that its long-term management goals would honor the Redd family tradition by maintaining the Dugout as a working ranch. Heidi Redd will remain on the ranch for her lifetime, managing the cattle operation for at least the next ten years. Beyond that, the ranch will continue to serve as a model of sustainable grazing practices as well as a resource for research and natural history interpretation. The open space and ecological features will be preserved. For The Nature Conservancy, the purchase of the Dugout Ranch was actually a risk, a step beyond its traditional mandate to purchase lands that primarily protect biodiversity. Here, the organization acquired not only a valuable biological property but also a working ranch and a landscape full of traditions, stories, history, and remnants of human cultures dating from prehistoric to present time. So now the Conservancy once again finds itself forging new connections. In the spring of 1998, The Nature Conservancy contracted anthropologist John Fritz and me, a folklorist, to begin a cultural inventory of the ranch. We assembled an advisory board of scholars in related fields to aid our efforts in surveying, documenting, archiving, and

The historic, sod-roofed Green Cabin, located on Indian Creek, prior to stabilization.

Left: Looking south past ranch headquarters, up North Cottonwood Canyon. Important stream habitat winds down spectacular red rock canyons. Right: Salt Lake Community College students examine an archaeological site on the ranch.

preserving the pre- and post-European settlement histories and sites on the ranch. Because no preservation models currently exist that reflect the depth and rich complexities of the Dugout project, we are creating a research process that addresses the intricacies of the task in innovative ways. To date, bibliographies of both the prehistoric and post-European histories of the area

of oral histories, tapes, and research journals (stuffed with notes) fill two offices. A Dugout Ranch Library is being discussed. Conversations with other preservation scholars have been initiated. Efforts are underway to study the possibility of registering the ranch on the National Register of Historic Places. The work already done is but the tip of a

What happens next will require sitting a spell. Talking. Studying what is there. Planning. Envisioning a sane and sustainable future. At times, it seems daunting to try to negotiate between so many diverse aspects of nature and people and myths and realities-all converging on this one spot of earth. But the struggle to preserve and honor this

"The country got a hold of me..." Robert Redd once said in an interview, "This country does that to people." have been compiled, and overviews of both histories of the area have been researched and written. Several historic cabin and homesteading sites have been identified, surveyed, fenced for protection, and placed under active study. The Nature Conservancy is acting upon prioritized preservation recommendations to secure the most unstable of the sites. (A historic preservationist specialist was recently engaged to restore the historic "Green" cabin; several uranium mining sites are also in the process of being secured.) Hundreds of hours have been logged combing archives and libraries along the Wasatch Front and in San Juan County. Students from Salt Lake Community College have been involved in research and in actual physical labor: archaeological mapping, surveying, cabin stabilization, and oral history interviewing. Boxes of files, land surveys, photographs, documents, maps, transcripts

massive effort that will require many years to complete. But this exciting and ambitious project in landscape preservation is underway. Because of The Nature Conservancy's vision, conversations between biological and cultural preservationists can now begin to inform and shape a more cohesive and collaborative vision of how biology and human occupation affect each other. The cultural inventory team joins scientists, biologists, riparian specialists, and other scholars in gathering information and data that will enable The Nature Conservancy to address both biological and humanistic concerns in their management strategy. An innovative partnership is in place. It's a bold experiment, this partnership between biological and cultural preservation. But in spearheading the effort, The Nature Conservancy is nurturing the hope that the West has always symbolized: New beginnings.

place is an experiment in reinventing ourselves as westerners, in creating innovative partnerships where few have existed. How can the landscape be separated from the humans who have helped shape it? How can humans be separated from a landscape that helped shape them? This new partnership between biological and cultural preservationists is helping to create a model that merges academic disciplines, insights, and questions. It is a dance in the town square after the shoot-out, a positive transition toward new ways of seeing and connecting. It is a fitting way to ride into the dawn of a new millennium. * LIZ MONTAGUE IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AND FOLKLORE AT SALT LAKE C O M M U N I T Y COLLEGE AND CO-DIRECTOR

THE

DUGOUT

RANCH

CULTURAL

INVENTORY PROJECT.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

Dixie Revivals by Doug Alder estoring old buildings is a fever in

pride—right on the main highway. It is a

Utah's Dixie. Town after town is

sure stopper for tourists. In addition, the

experiencing the past anew as

same folks have built a trail from the Jacob

buildings

are

Hamblin house museum to the site of

brought back to life. Some are community-

the old pioneer fort, just off Highway 9 1 .

based volunteer efforts while others are

Lasswell has also restored her grandpar-

private restorations. All have an impact

ents' 1906 brick house as an antique and

beyond their own property boundaries.

gift shop. It is located adjacent to her

They're infectious, these Dixie revivals.

family's fruit stand, the last one of several

They spark a revitalization of older neigh-

that used to line the main

borhoods and transform decaying town

through town.

long

neglected

centers into new gathering places.

highway

Washington City has experienced a

In Santa Clara, Vicki Lasswell and the

renaissance in the last four years. Harold

Whittakers—Joyce and Don—have spear-

and Priscilla Cahoon were the catalysts in

headed the restoration of three pioneer

getting a series of projects going. Again it

buildings in the center of the town— the

was the restoration of an old Relief Society

Relief Society Hall, a Swiss immigrant's

Hall that caught the citizens' interest.

home, and a proposed library. Local

The Washington City Historical Society

donors responded to the plea for funds.

raised over $100,000 to restore that hand-

They have given the town a gathering

some structure on the town's main street,

place for celebrations, weddings and civic

Telegraph Street.

Above left: The ghost town of Grafton has attracted preservationists' attention after 60-plus years of abandonment. Opposite: The Washington Relief Society Building before (left) and after (right) rehabilitation. Below left: The ditch-rider's trail along the fabled Hurricane Canal is being converted to a pedestrian path. Below right: The Graff House on Santa Clara's main street has been converted into an antique and gift shop.

The 1870's St. George Opera House, which later functioned as a sugar processing facility, has been carefully restored as a performance center. Elements of the original tilting floor, designed to provide better sight lines, were preserved in the restoration.

Once that success was mounted the group kept up its steam. They restored the old town granary into a visitor information center. Then the Nisson family came forward and funded a city park next door to the Old Cotton Mill. Just recently Star Nursery purchased the pioneer Cotton Mill and has carefully adapted it to a first-rate commercial facility while preserving the original historic structure. In addition, George Staheli has built two buildings in pioneer style across the street to be used for group dinners and dances. The city historical society and the city government are preparing plans to turn the old school in the town center into a historical museum. Many artifacts are already available from the Howard Smith collection. In just three years the whole pioneer neigh-

UTAH

PRESERVATION

borhood along Telegraph has come back into vitality with zest. The center of St. George is experiencing a comeback with the creation of the Pioneer Center for the Arts, where the pioneer Opera House and the St. George Social Hall have been restored. This revival was envisioned by Mayor Karl Brooks and spurred on by Sun Capital Bank and a fundraising committee chaired by Elaine Alder. The LDS Church restored the stately St. George Tabernacle in the heart of downtown. With the urging of Sydney de Villarosa, the community's historical society restored the old courthouse as well as an original adobe house in the down-

town center. Another group salvaged an old warehouse and created the St. George Art Museum. These community-spirited people are now turning their attention to the preservation of the Woodward School building, also located in the center of downtown. Private efforts have also abounded. Several families have refurbished downtown pioneer homes and created bed and breakfast facilities. Also in the downtown, storeowners have taken advantage of the city's facade grant program to restore their historic storefronts. Developer Brooks Pace recently decided to restore, rather than demolish, the old Joseph Johnson house adjacent to his successful Ancestor Square complex. The 1860s adobe house is now professional offices. Ghost town lovers all over the nation will be thrilled to see what a group called the Grafton Partnership has done to preserve the 1886 school/meetinghouse in this famous ghost town. After suffering decades of vandalism and collapse, the adobe structure has been re-roofed, shored up, and refurbished. Funding has come from the county, which owns the building, the Community Development Block Grant program, and other sources. The partnership is actively pursuing ways to acquire nearby land and protect neighboring buildings. The entire townsite has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places as a rural historic district. Fans of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," part of which was filmed in Grafton, may want to pitch in on the effort. Much of this began several years ago when LuWayne Wood, who was born in the town more than 80 years ago, sparked a group of descendants, residents of Rockville (which now encompasses Grafton), government officials, and conservation groups to undertake the project. His commitment has inspired a score of others who have now joined the partnership. Their goal goes

Their pal goes beyond just restoring buildings. They want to conserve both the cultural and natural landscape of (irafton. beyond just restoring buildings. They want to conserve both the cultural and natural landscape of Grafton: the fields, orchards, irrigation systems, and cemetery, plus the Virgin River corridor itself. They are setting

up walking trails in the townsite and helping this generation realize what town life was like along the rampaging Virgin River a century ago. Hurricane City is proud of three major projects that have created a vibrant city center for the town, which was founded in 1904. Heritage Square has been completed at the crossroads of Highway 17 and Main Street. It includes a handsome pioneer monument, a performance area, and a park. Adjacent to the park is the historic library/town hall, which has been converted into a museum. Across the street the Hurricane Sons of Utah Pioneers have restored the old Bradshaw Hotel and a "granary home" (a rudimentary settlement-era structure) as well as a barn and corral, including farm machinery. They also restored the first home built in the town, a humble one-room structure. Their latest project is to develop a walking trail along the historic Hurricane Canal, which was the initial lifeline that created the town. The six-and-one-half-mile trail follows the historic ditch-riders' route, which parallels the canal as it clings to the side of the precipitous canyon. The canal is a marvel of engineering and pioneer perseverance. The dedicated work of Verdell Hinton, Robert Langston, Bill Workman, Dorothy Spendlove, Del Stout, LuWayne Wood, and many others have brought these projects to

Good Ideas are Growing at.. Star Nursery

Star NURSERY

St. George 1145 W. Sunset Blvd. St. George, U T 84770 (435) 673-0820

Cotton Mill 385 W. Telegraph Rd Washington, U T 84780 (435) 986-0820

Left: The 1886 Grafton School/Meetinghouse has been stabilized and upgraded after decades of neglect. Adobe experts have repaired and rebuilt sections of the exterior walls. Right: The 1938 sandstone city hall/library in Hurricane now serves as a museum; adjacent is an acclaimed heritage park developed by volunteers.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

The adobe Joseph Johnson House has recently been restored and converted to office use. Johnson was a leading horticulturist in St. George's early years.

completion. The town of Leeds has restored the Civilian Conservation Corps camp that once made the town a hub of activity during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The stone administrative buildings are unique among Utah's CCC camps, most of which consisted of wooden barracks that were hauled away when the program ended. Leeds also invited community groups throughout the county to join them in the restoration of the three cemeteries in old Silver Reef, a nearby mining camp from the 1880s. The spark plugs for these activities were June Foster, JoAnn Thornton, and Mike and Coleen Empy. It is amazing what can be done by the determination of a few people. In Santa

Clara three people were the catalyst, and soon many rallied to them. It was the same in Washington, Leeds, and Grafton. Hurricane's efforts have lasted longer and involved many more, but St. George's upswing in developing its community center was inspired by a handful of hard workers who ignited the whole town. One of the secrets of these smaller groups is that they conferred together regularly. Each month they met at 7 a.m. on the first Wednesday in the Washington County Historical Society offices to share ideas and plan strategies. The cooperation of local businesses has been another secretâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Sun Capital Bank, U. S. Bank, Zions Bank, and Star Nursery, to

Aggressive f u n d r a i s i n g a n d local perseverance have h e l p e d restore b u i l d i n g s at t h e Leeds CCC camp.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

name a few. Technical assistance and small grants from the Utah State Historical Society and the Utah Heritage Foundation have been crucial. Larger grants from other foundations, especially the George S. and Delores Dore Eccles Foundation, have helped with several projects. Southern Utah's Dixie is a model of local volunteering and cooperation for the cause of historic preservation. The residents' commitment to enhancing their growing communities with remnants from the past is a trait the pioneers who settled the area would have greatly admired and which future residents will appreciate. <* DOUG ALDER IS A HISTORY PROFESSOR AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF DIXIE COLLEGE IN ST. GEORGE.

ALFA

LITE

380 E. 1700 S. Salt Lake City, Utah 84115 ph (801) 487.3451 800 388-5456 fx (801) 487.7992 email: barbara.gardner@prodigy.net

R 0

F I

L E

I N T H I S ERA OF M EG A- M E RG E RS, ATM's and a lot of automation in our lives, the specialized, service oriented merchant is still in demand. After more than 40 years, Alfa Lite carries on the tradition of providing individual attention to updating, preserving and restoring the best of the past as well as creating original designs for heirlooms of the future. Alfa Lite houses the unusual, the original, the old, the one-of-a-kind, as well as an engaging selection of Cappo di Monte, Cordey, Lennox, and Aladdin lamps - crystal and brass fixtures from years gone by. More contemporary offerings can also be found. Alfa Lite's diversified services include brass polishing, mending of porcelain and ceramics, and reviving finishes of corroded metals, in addition to simple lamp repairs. They provide the artisans hand in the repair and restoration of customer's valued pieces, whether historic or just nostalgic. Their trained craftsmen have the skills and means to give new life to broken or seemingly useless items. Alfa Lite recovers existing lampshade frames as well as manufacturing baroque, leather, and fringed shades. Shades can be pleated, shirred, laminated, stretched or hand sewn. They may be square, hex, rectangle, oval or round in shape to best compliment a lamp. From the beginning Alfa Lite has pioneered with technique. Now they lead the way with texture, color, and contour. Customers delight in the possibilities of Alfa Lite's parts rooms. Here they find replacement glass and chimneys; bases, columns, sockets, swivels, plugs and wire; harps, necks and nipples; oil lamp wicks, Aladdin components, candle covers, bobesches, student shades, crystal pendants. They will find an overwhelming variety of finials to secure the lampshade to the lamp and add that finishing touch to the whole. There is an exclusive collection of numbered, one-of-a kind "Barbara Gardner Original Creations" now showing at Alfa Lite. These have been created by Barbara Gardner using antique, rare, and collectible pieces blended with new parts to offer designs that can never be copied or repeated. From an amazing collection of parts that are no longer manufactured, she uses forty-four years of experience in designing to combine the old with the new, the unusual with the unattainable, sometimes even the bizarre with the beautiful. Her design skills are available to Alfa Lite customers. Call for an appointment. Alfa Lite has become a place people bring their houseguests for a visit much as they might take them to a museum. It is not uncommon for those houseguests to return on their next visit to Salt Lake carrying a cherished relic for Alfa Lite's imaginative and skillful restoration. A comment frequently heard as customers and friends leave the store is, "I love this place. I just LOVE this place." You are invited to visit Alfa Lite's website at www.alfalite.citysearch.com for an extended view of the existing possibilities available.

A R I D

R E $ E

L A N D S

C O N S U L T A N T S

P.O. Box668 l.i Vcr-kin, ULih K4745 (435)635.2260

R U S S E L L B E Z E T T E , is Executive Director of Arid Lands Consultants (ALC), a consulting firm that restores historical buildings, focusing primarily on adobe

and state-of-the-art

regional

building

techniques. He often quotes Mormon prophet Brigham Young, who stated, "If a man should

ALC's historical project list is varied and extensive. "We

have

restorations,"

performed

all sorts

says

Russell,

historical "from

chicken coops to honeymoon cottages to private

have a good house." "Before entertaining the idea of restoring an historical structure one should make contact with Arid Lands Consultants!" Russell exclaims. "We have more than 25 years of experience to do the job right. We genuinely care and are personally involved in the process." Russell is involved with each project on numerous levels, sometimes as the project supervisor, sometimes a technical analyst, sometimes engineering the selective and

demolition

reconstruction,

sometimes a mason. "We have the skills and

experienced

craftsmen it takes to guarantee

the best

results for our clients."

?Hยง$ZMfAfiยงH

?HยงfHM

restoration.

strongly

support

between the public and private

agencies involved in the restoration process of these significant cultural artifacts.

residences, factories, banks, churches, and museums.

"The romantic image of the pioneer as a hardy axe-

If it is historical, we can do it."

wielding log cabin builder is true to a point,"

undertake to put me up a stone house, I should wish him to build it of adobes instead, and then I should

historical cooperation

ALC's primary goal is to promote integrity and

Bezette observes, "however, in much of early south-

professionalism in the restoration of historical

western history, adobe had complete dominance

structures. Along with this, we feel it is important

over log construction. Historical evidence shows

to foster education concerning the importance of

adobe to be an important element in the growth

ARID

LANDS

CONSULTANTS

V.O. Box 668 La Vcrkin, Ulah 84745 (435) 635.2260

and prosperity of early Utah pioneers."What was it

top of the big box. The horse went around in circles

like to work in a pioneer adobe yard? An early

and when we filled the wooden box with dirt and

immigrant described it well. "I worked in a dobie

water, mud came out of the spout. We put the

yard to make my way. We used what you would call

"dobie"

a wooden pugmill that we made from old lumber. It

"dobies", 12" by 6" by 4 " end to end. The water to

measured four feet by four feet square and four

make the bricks came from the irrigation ditch,

feet deep. There was a big log that went into the air about seven feet and it had paddles attached to it

mud into a form that made three

which we also used to wash ourselves after a long hard day of making 'dobies'."

suspects there are many more. Those with foresight: are enjoying the many benefits adobe has to offer, including the longevity of the structure, low maintenance, fire resistance, noise reduction, lower insurance rates, low energy costs, and the fact that adobe buildings are sensitive to environmental concerns. "Sometimes the old ways really are the best ways," observes Bezette. We are thoroughly

inside a square wooden box. We had a horse

The Utah State Historical Society has identified

dedicated to the preservation and restoration of

attached to the long pole that was hooked to the

over 1000 historical adobe structures in Utah and

historical structures.

An excellent example of early pioneer stone masonry.

Watkins-Coleman House (1869) Midway, Utah

Opera House (18ÂŁS4/C.1880) St. George, Utah

- ''ft*

PBESEBVATIBM

PBIFILE

SIGN

P R E S E R V A T I O N

P R O F I L E

DIMENSIONS,

INC

54 E. Robert Ave. SLC, Utah 84115 ph (801) 485.4205 fx (801) 485.4694 e-mail: Signdim@aros.net

"We're not your average sign company," explains Steve Pritchett, co-owner of Sign Dimensions, "we're very creative, very cutting edge." The company was founded four years ago by Pritchett, who then joined with Mark and David Marabello as full partners three years ago. The trio has since made wondrous strides in developing a 21st- century shop with techniques not found anywhere else in this area.

Cold Metal Application Another process unique to Salt Lake City through Sign Dimensions is cold metal application. Reaching for what appears to be a two-foot length of sold brass antique moulding, Pritchett lifts it with just one finger. "It's wood underneath," he grins. "We have a special application process that we trained for in California, where we mix powdered metal with a special binder and activator. We can then spray it onto any surface, including wood. It's a fabulous alterna-

Three-Dimensional Routing Boasting state-of-the-art

equipment, such as a fully

tive for restoration projects, because of reproducing solid metal details, they can computerized

3-dimensional router (of which they have 2 and are the regional reps for PRECIX the company that produces this machine), Sign Dimensions has the capability to produce highly detailed signs. "We can basically log onto, say, the USGS website and download a relief map of Utah, then reproduce it in 3-D using this machine and specialized software which at the present time Sign Dimensions is the only company using this method."

be re-created from wood or ceramics, then simply coated with metals." Pritchett also explains that the finished product, though metal, in non-conductive to electricity. "The military tested this process for the bottom of ships," he notes, "even though it is non-conductive, it is still metal, and can withstand a shear force of more than 1500 pounds per square foot. That makes for some strong and longlasting signs."

Flat Panel Neon "Neon signs are another area in which we have a technological advantage," Pritchett says. "We represent a company which has mastered the new technology whereby channels are routed into flat panels of plexi-glass. The panels are vacuum sealed together, and the channels are then filled with activated neon. They are much easier to create and repair than conventional neon signs, yet cost about the same with low maintenance and last longer." Flat neon panels, he says, have size limitations of approximately 24 inches by 24 inches, but multiple panels can be joined together for a larger project.

Fiber Optics Sign Dimensions also specializes in fiber optic signage. "Fiber optic animations get pretty complex," says Pritchett. "Most of what we do is point-of-purchase work. Each sign is a stand alone piece. You can't reprogram it without totally re-designing the design elements. It helps if you think of it as a giant Lite Brite. It's a wonderful effect, but somewhat limited in it's application." Proficient in standard, as well as cutting-edge, sign-making methods, Pritchett and the Marabello brothers are proud of their work. "We have clients as far away as Turkey, and as close as Texas," Pritchett notes. "We have the creativity and the practical skills to make each and every project top-notch and unique."

HOME-TECH, INC.

P R E S E R V A T I O N

P.O. Box 526396 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 ph (801) 484.9360 fx (801) 461.0110

P R O F I L E

HOME-TECH,

I N C . , i s dedicated to developing and maintaining customer

satisfaction, along with community recognition and involvement, through honest communication, innovative design solutions, excellence in job management, and pride in craftsmanship. With an emphasis on historic homes in and around Salt Lake City, Home-Tech's projects range from annual home maintenance to whole house renovations. While most of their work is residential, they provide the same quality service and attention to detail in their commercial renovations. As seen in these photographs, Home-Tech is starting the new year with a lot of momentum. Their versatility is evident in the Mary Fielding Smith House (upper right) that they picked up and moved to a new location in This is the Place State Park. The other images show historic homes in Salt Lake where Home-Tech has begun renovations. Seen on the lower left, the roof was strengthened and reshingled, windows and skylights replaced, and the electrical service upgraded. The front porch was removed and rebuilt on the house on the upper left, and the mechanical system and windows were replaced throughout. Home-Tech looks forward to continuing their fine work into the new millennium with these and many other projects to come.

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onaco: banking ain Street's Resurgence in j /

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T hen young James E. Cosgriff left the rolling, green hills of Vermont and moved West in 1890, he was a man with a plan. On /

the high, wind-blown plains around Rawlins, Wyoming, he started a sheep and wool business. Hard work made his business successful, and by the turn of the century he had a flock of sheep numbering more than 100,000 head. From sheep and

wool, he expanded his fledgling empire into banking. Over the next few years he bought several banks throughout the Intermountain area. In 1905 the ambitious Cosgriff moved to Salt Lake City. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions he expanded his banking enterprise. He continued as a leader in the sheep and wool industry, and added silver and other mining interests to his vast holdings. By the early 1920s, Cosgriff realized he needed a building from which he could manage his diverse business interests. The property he bought, at the coiner of Second South and Main Street in Salt Lake City, was centrally located to the downtown business district. It was already occupied by a popular hotel called the White House, and on the ground floor was one of his own banks, a drug store, a bar and a cigar store. Cosgriff hired Salt Lake architect Fredrick Hale and San Francisco architect George Callum to design his building. He cleared the property of most of the existing strucrure, leaving only the cigar and drug store, and started construction on his new 13-story office building. When construction was completed in 1924, he united all his business and bank holdings into the new building. His new consolidated bank was called the Continental National Bank and Trust Company. Above: The new (1999) light rail system passes directly in front of the former bank, which now serves as a boutique hotel. Opposite: Continental Bank in 1951, when Main Street was the center of commercial activity.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

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UTAH

PRESERVATION

James E. Cosgriff died in 1938 and his son Walter took over the business. Each became a notable and colorful figure in the history of Salt Lake City. They were an economic force in industry and leading citizens in the community. Since that time the Continental Bank building has remained a mainstay of the Salt Lake skyline and downtown business community. After Walter Cosgriff died, the bank was sold to an Idaho holding company and the building was closed. In 1998 the Continental Bank building, and abutting property nearly half the block to the south, was purchased by the Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group Incorporated. Today the 76-year-old Continental Bank building has come full circle. Its $15 million rebirth as the new Hotel Monaco is being proclaimed as a masterful restoration project and a key piece in the revitalization of Main Street. At the same time, the Kimpton Group has emerged as a major player in the overall planning of downtown Salt Lake City. "The Hotel Monaco is a metaphorical beacon for the future of the downtown business district," said Bob Farrington, director of a coalition of downtown property owners called the Downtown Alliance, "and it's a unique product in this market. The Kimpton Group has created an inviting and compelling place that is causing people to look at Main Street with a fresh new perspective." Based in San Francisco, the Kimpton Group represents the ultimate in niche marketing. The company operates 26 upscale boutique style hotels across the country. Salt Lake is home to the fifth called Monaco. The other four are located in Seattle, Denver, Chicago and San Francisco. Boutique hotels tend to be smaller and more intimate than traditional hotels. The Monaco has only 225 rooms. All are spacious and brightly decorated. Prices start at $125 per night for a single room, and suites range from $225 to $290 per night. "Salt Lake has been on our target list for a long time," says James Whelan, director of acquisitions for the Kimpton Group. "It's just the right size market for a unique boutique style hotel, and it has a vibrant, growing, and dynamic downtown."

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PRESERVATION

The exterior of the building was meticulously preserved, while the interior received a vibrant makeover. The third floor features "Tall Rooms" to accommodate the NBA opponents of the Utah Jazz.

Whelan says the Continental Bank building was an attractive purchase for several reasons. The most important consideration was the initial cost to acquire the building, but location, size, and the fact that the building had no tenants were also important. Incentives for historic preservation were attractive and useful, but they were not the determining factor in the acquisition of the

"Salt Lake has been on our target list For a long time, says James Whelan, director of acquisitions for the Kimpton Croup. "It's just the right size market For a unique boutique style hotel, and it has a vibrant, growing, and dynamic downtown.

building. Preservation requirements made it possible to preserve the shell of the building, but allowed considerable latitude on the interior. "To convert the building from a bank to a hotel meant we had to completely redesign the interior," Whelan said, "but we were able to enhance the original exterior while

leaving it just as the original owner envisioned." The building James E. Cosgriff envisioned to house his empire is an eclectic mix of design. It has a narrow verticality, and at thirteen stories it was one of the first highrise buildings on the Salt Lake landscape. The first two floors are stone faced reinforced concrete in the Second Renaissance Revival style. From the second floor up, eleven stories of sturdy, light gray brick convey conservative, utilitarian strength. Included in the decorative elements of the first two floors are fourteen narrow arched windows that extend the entire thirty-foot height of the original first floor. Two windows face the Main Street side and twelve face Second South. Each window has a protruding, carved stone face resembling a Viking warrior above the arch keystone. Above the warriors is a row of cartouches and a decorative carved stone rail and balusters. The seemingly plain, brick office tower starts at the third floor. It extends up until just below the eleventh floor windows and above the thirtieth floor windows, where two strips of brickwork take on a narrow, geometric pattern. The entire building is capped with a classical cornice. The most noticeable change to the exterior of the building was the conversion of the 1953 three-story rear addition to the main entrance of the hotel. Vehicle access and other considerations made this the logical choice. The historic Main Street entrance now serves as the primary entrance to the Bambara restaurant that occupies the original banking space.

The Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group was able to take advantage of two programs for historic preservation. For the exterior of the building they used an incentive program offered by the Salt Lake Redevelopment Agency. "The loan we made for the Continental Bank is typical of the loan programs we offer,"said Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency deputy director Dick Turpin. "We gave the Kimpton Group a $1 million loan at 3 percent interest for 20 years to preserve the exterior of the building and to do the required seismic retrofit." Although the interior of the building has been completely redesigned, the Kimpton Group's architects were able to install the restaurant and preserve much of the original bank lobby. Marble-topped teller stations were incorporated into the dining room layout. Hotel Monaco general manager James Marino was pleased to note that "We were able to maintain the historic value and look of the old bank lobby while recreating it as an up-scale hotel and restaurant." As Hotel Monaco guests enter the new hotel lobby from the west, they are flanked on one side by the reception desk and on the other by a luxurious open parlor similar to the type found in fine European hotels. Called "the Living Room," the open parlor

has two sitting areas, each furnished with large heavy tables, plants, and over-stuffed couches and chairs. It is decorated in colorful Mediterranean style, and a fireplace warms the eastern end of the sitting area.

It was reported that James Cosgriff would often stand at the railing overlooking the lobby floor and throw paper airplanes at the bank tellers.

Moving down an arched hallway toward the old bank lobby and new restaurant, you pass a recessed arch that was once the stairwell to the cigar store. On the left is a wood paneled private cocktail room, followed by

the public bar and then the restaurant. The stately old bank teller windows separate the hall from the main dining room. The restaurant area retains the polished marble floors from the bank. On the Main Street side of the dining room is a private dining area that was once the office of the bank's vice-president. A sweeping stairway that used to go to the loft office of bank president James Cosgriff was retained, though it now ends at the new ceiling. Although the loft no longer exists, it was reported that James Cosgriff would often stand at the railing overlooking the lobby floor, and throw paper airplanes at the tellers. "The biggest advantage to remodeling the restaurant was the 30-foot high ceilings," said Marino. "We were able to maintain relatively high ceilings and still add a new second floor to the structure." The new second floor has been converted to small meeting rooms and a well-equipped exercise room. All the meeting rooms feature an impressive lighting array and high-tech connections for multi-media and computer connections. The windows that line all the new second-floor rooms are the tops of the arched windows and provide a large walk-in size space in each window frame. "We don't have big convention halls," said general manager Marino,

Left: The hotel's "Living Room" provides a comfortable, informal gathering place for guests. Right: The original bank lobby and teller line were incorporated into the hotel's award-winning restaurant.

UTAH PRESERVATION

"because we can't afford them. We market to smaller groups who want more intimate space." Another historically interesting part of the restaurant service area is the basement. The vault area of the old bank has been converted to storage, room service, and preparation fo; the restaurant above. The old bank vault, complete with the original door, is now serving as food storage and a walk-in refrigerator. Down the hall is a second storage area that was once the high-security vault. The walls are over two-feet thick, and inside there is a second four-foot-round, elevated safe door. It is believed that this was the area where Cosgriff kept silver and negotiable bonds in the old bank. "The Bambara," Marino wryly observed, "has the most secure food storage area of any restaurant in the city." In addition to the loan program from the Redevelopment Agency, the Kimpton Group was also able to take advantage of a federal tax credit program for historic preservation. Although they did not receive Redevelopment funds for the interior of the Continental Bank building, they are eligible for preservation tax credits from the federal government. Charles Shepherd, an historical architect with the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, says the tax credits represent a significant savings to developers. "The Kimpton Group will get $3 million in bottom-line tax credits for repair and upgrade," said Shepherd. "If their federal income tax bill for the year is three million and one dollars, they can subtract three millien dollars right off the top and only pay one dollar in taxes. On a $15 million restoration like the Continental Bank building, that's 20 percent of the total cost. If they can't use the credit in one year, they can carry it forward for up to 12 more years." The Kimpton Group has also become a significant force in Main Street planning. They recently sold an adjoining piece of property, south of the Hotel Monaco, to a developer who plans to build a 20-story high riss. The new building will offer retail, commercial and residential units. Importantly, the new building will also contain badly needed parking that can be used by guests at the Hotel Monaco. "Parking is our biggest problem," says the Monaco's James Marino, "and it's part of the long range plan for what we would like to see happen in the downtown area. We're very interested in the future of Main Street and we are already participating in the leadership of

UTAH

PRESERVATION

the Downtown Alliance." As part of their participation, the Hotel Monaco is helping with a traffic plan for the downtown area that is funded by the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency. Additionally, Marino says the owners of the hotel would like Salt Lake City officials to encourage more nightlife in the downtown area, with unique up-scale retail, entertainment, arts, and cultural attractions on Main Street. As the ultimate in niche marketers, Hotel Monaco offers unusual services to their guests. Pets are welcome, and if a guest does not have a pet, the hotel has a "Guppy Love" program that will supply a fish for the room. If the guest brings their own pet they get a fresh biscuit each day for the pet and candy for the children. The rooms also include a mini-stereo radio and CD player, and a TV with Nintendo for the kids. The entire third floor has what the management calls "Tall Rooms." Everything, including the doors and beds, are over eight feet long. These rooms are specifically designed to attract NBA teams that come to town to play the Utah Jazz. For the business traveler, each room has a printer, copier, and computer modem connection. Between 5 and 6 each evening, guests get a complimentary glass of wine and a fiveminute neck massage. The hotel also has 24hour room service. The restoration of the Continental Bank building has won universal praise for the Kimpton Group, and an award for historic preservation. In 1999, the Hotel Monaco won a Utah Heritage Foundation award for adaptive-use projects. James Marino says the Kimpton Group is excited about their move to Utah and has made a long-term commitment to Salt Lake City. "We want to tell people we are open for business with a unique four-star luxury hotel. We think our hotel will be a great destination for business travelers, families, or anyone who wants a pleasurable and unique experience." If James Cosgriff were still around, he'd probably be pleased to see how well his bank is working out as a hotel and restaurant. And he'd probably be tossing paper airplanes around the restaurant, where waiters, rather than bank tellers, now hold forth. <â&#x20AC;˘

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NINETEENTH-CENTURY

UTAH

G R A V E S T O N E S AND

THEIR

CARVERS BY

CAROL

EDISON

t's hard for me to believe, but it's been more than twenty years since I became fascinated with Utah I gravestones. In the fall of 1978, one of my first assignments as a part-time employee for the Folk Arts Program of the Utah Arts 1 Council was to photograph a collection of gravestone rubbings that had been donated to the agency. The week I spent on that task marked the beginning of a continuing personal journey that has led me to dig through old census records, read family and local histories, search for clues in genealogical records, and visit nearly every graveyard in the state, as well as many in England, in an attempt to learn about Utah's gravestone carvers and their contributions to our state's cultural and artistic history. There is more to gravestones than meets the eye. They often display not only vital statistics, like the name and birth and death dates of the deceased, but also clues about how individuals and society reconcile themselves to the inevitability of death. Through images and symbolism, words and design, gravestones make statements concerning life, death, and the afterlife that can reassure those who mourn of the truth of their beliefs. Gravestones can be both eloquent and artistic repositories of some of the most essential cultural information that exists about a specific time, place, and people.

Above: The image of two hands clasped together in a handshake was commonly used and understood by nineteenth century Americans as a representation of both departure at death and reunion in the afterlife. Like many popular early Mormon symbols, clasped hands were Masonic in origin but had special significance in Utah where, through identifiable and sometimes gender specific cuffs, they depicted Mormon belief in the reunion of the family unit after death.

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PRESERVATION

William Ward carved this marker for colleague Thomas Tanner in the style traditionally used by English carvers to honor fellow workmen. Notice the anvil, hammers and tools of the blacksmith's trade covered with drapery that symbolically functions as Tanner's work apron, a funeral shroud and a representation of the veil between heaven and earth. Likewise the chain encircling his marker is both the product of his craft and a symbol of infinity or everlasting life.

Utah's remarkable legacy of handcrafted gravemarkers is the result of several important factors. First, unlike many nineteenthcentury pioneers, the Mormons who settled the area knew this region was to be their permanent home. They knew they were part of a systematic colonization that would help ensure both the stability of communities and the security of family gravesites. Second, among the settlers were a number of professionally trained stoneworkers. And third, nearly every settlement in the region had an ample supply of fine stone in adjacent canyons. As a result, by the early 1850sâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; within a short four or five years after the arrival of the first pioneer companyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;elaborately carved stone markers reflecting local beliefs and culture began appearing in settlements along the Mormon Corridor.

This fascinating 1898 photograph taken in Springville by G.E. Anderson features the workshop of monument engraver Thomas Child and his son-in-law mortician Walter Wheeler. Of particular interest is the variety of pre-carved marble gravestones awaiting the addition of name and dates. These markers were regularly imported to Utah by rail from quarries in Vermont along with carloads of rough cut marble that were sculpted locally.

Among the earliest gravestone carvers in the Salt Lake Valley were three Englishmen: William Ward, Charles Lambert, and William Warner Player. Arriving within the first decade of settlement, each made significant hands-on contributions to the building of the community. With their construction and stoneworking skills they crafted not only buildings but also gravemarkers. Their work reflects their individual training in gravestone artistry as well as the local culture. William Ward is responsible for a handful of the earliest and most elaborate markers in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. He is perhaps better known as draftsman of the architectural drawings for the Salt Lake Temple and sculptor of both the beehive-graced stone block contributed to the Washington Monument from the Territory of Deseret and of the lion that still rests over the front door of the Lion House. Trained in the then-popular English Gothic Revival style, Ward had mastered a carving technique known as "subtractive sculpture," which created threedimensional symbols of varying thickness by removing surrounding layers of stone. He typically used a fine-grained tan or "nugget" sandstone quarried in nearby Red Butte Canyon, and his workshop was located on Temple Square, where he was foreman of the stonecutters. It appears that he occasionally produced gravestones as part of his public works responsibilities, but most of Ward's gravemarkers were likely private commissions generated by an October 1854 ad in the Deseret News. These he completed in a short period during the winter of 1854-55 before he left for the Midwest in 1856. English stoneworker and railroad contrac-

tor Charles Lambert produced another group of early gravestones. Before settling in Salt Lake City, Lambert had spent several years working on the LDS Church's temple in Nauvoo, Illinois. He was one of a handful of carvers credited with the specialized stonecutting required for creating the temple's decorative capitol faces, capstones, and baptismal font. In the Salt Lake Valley Lambert worked for more than thirty years as a stonecutter and stonemason, though most of his gravestones date from the late 1850s. He primarily carved the fine reddish sandstone from either Red Butte or Killyon Canyon and often produced markers with a distinctive curvilinear design around the words "In Memory Of." Lambert's work typically featured traditional symbols like oak leaves (representing strength), a quill pen (suggesting life's story has been written) or a winged hourglass (symbolizing that time for the body has run out but the soul will fly to heaven). Both his fine lettering and imagery attest to his skill with a mallet and chisel. Like other nineteenth-century artisans, Lambert was often paid for his work in produce or other bartered goods. Today his markers can be found in cemeteries from North Ogden to West Jordan, with the majority located in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. A third English carver, William Warner Player, is responsible for a significant number of existing nineteenth-century gravestones found today in cemeteries from Brigham City to Lehi. Player, who was the principal stonesetter on the Nauvoo Temple, arrived in Utah Territory in 1862 at the age of 69. He spent the next decade until his death in 1873 carving gravestones. Player preferred the whitish-tan variety of Red Butte Canyon sandstone, and he generally fashioned markers that were signifi-

cantly smaller than those of either Ward or Lambert - 30 inches tall versus 45-50 inches. He produced a variety of markers, some with traditional imagery like wheat (representing life) or urns and weeping willows (representing death and mourning), and others with epitaphs of verse or scripture. But the most characteristic aspect of Player's gravestones was his penchant for combining several styles of script on a single marker and employing distinctive ways of punctuating and abbreviating numbers. These stylistic elements make his work immediately identifiable, whether or not his signature is still visible. About the same time these carvers were producing custom gravestones in the Great Salt Lake Valley, 250 miles to the south, in the Little Salt Lake Valley, a similar tradition in gravestones was being developed by three more British craftsmen: Welshman John Parry, and Englishmen Thomas Hugo Hickman and Nathan Benson. Like their British counterparts to the north, they worked in artistic traditions that were familiar to their pioneer clients, employing styles, conventions, and imagery that reflected their shared view of life and death. John Parry was among those who helped settle Parowan in 1851, the first major Mormon settlement in the southern corridor. Parry worked on building projects like Parowan's Old Rock Meeting House, and he carved a significant number of gravestones from the pinkish and grayish sandstone quarried just north of Parowan at Cane Springs. Like William Ward's markers, Parry's gravestones are often Gothic Revival in style with linear borders and converging sides pointing towards heaven, symbolizing a belief in the afterlife. His markers are without visual imagery but rely on their distinctive shape and script to convey information about the deceased and their beliefs. In addition to genealogical information, he often included the exact age at death, explained in years, months and days, as a reminder of life's preciousness.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

Today, approximately 50 of Parry's gravestones can be found in cemeteries throughout the southwest corner of Utah, with nearly half of them in either Parowan or nearby Cedar City. Another distinctive group of gravemarkers found in the Parowan Cemetery are attributed to Thomas Hugo Hickman. His markers are carved from tannish-gray sandstone and they range from simple stones with just a name and dates to elaborate markers with multiple images and epitaphs. They often feature ferns (suggesting growth and life) or vines with oak leaves and acorns (symbolizing strength), and always employ a distinctive style of lettering. Trained in gravestone carving on the Isle of Jersey in his native England, Hickman lived in Parowan during the 1870s and 80s and, according to census records, found work as a laborer, shoemaker, and miner. From the number of markers in this cemetery, he appears to have found a ready market for his stoneworking skills.

Parowan and Cedar City, examples can be found throughout southwestern Utah and as far north as Beaver and Panguitch. He was likely the most technically skilled as well as the most prolific nineteenth-century carver in the area. Benson worked in a fine-grained sandstone that varies in color from a tan to brown to a reddish hue, and he fashioned several sizes and styles of markers that are immediately recognizable by their distinctive shape and lettering. He produced everything from large four-sided monuments with sculpted cones on top to small markers with only a name and dates. But the majority of his gravestones are roughly three feet in height with a symmetrically curved top and a beautifully sculpted rose, a universal symbol of everlasting love.

A third British carver, Nathan Benson, arrived in Parowan in 1868. For the next thirty years, he operated a sawmill and stone quarry near the mouth of the canyon where he also produced gravemarkers. Though the majority of Benson's work is found in

As the century progressed and the population of the territory continued to grow through immigration and births, work for gravestone carvers increased. Carvers like Danes Asmus Jorgensen and Jacob Nielsen were among those who provided gravestones for their communities. Nielson, whose work can be found in the west central Utah towns of Oak City, Holden, and Kanosh, carved simple marble markers that often featured doves (representing the Holy Ghost or peace).

Englishman Charles Lambert was one of the few Utah carvers to use images like the quill pen and the winged hourglass symbols of life, death and resurrection commonly used in 17th-and 18th-century England and America. This marker also features three-leafed vegetation across the top border that suggests the beloved shamrocks from Ferguson's Irish homeland.

Belief in the Bible is displayed prominently on this marker carved by W.W. Player to memorialize a Bountiful pioneer. The primary symbol, wheat, suggests nourishment and survival of the body, while the Biblical scripture acknowledges the survival of the deceased's soul nourished by his good works on earth. Notice Player's signature displayed below the bottom border, as was the 19th-century custom.

Jorgensen worked in sandstone, and his markers are found along Highway 89 from Panguitch south to Mt. Carmel. They featured a variety of symbols such as wheat (representing life) or hands holding flowers (symbolizing the resurrection of the body). Yet for every gravestone carver whose work has been identified and attributed, there are many others still waiting to be attributed like the group of beautiful markers found in Holden, Manti, Grafton, and Rockville, whose maker is only identified by the initials W.K.B.

By the time the region's second generation of craftsmen had matured, family-owned gravestone carving businesses, some still familiar today, were developing in many parts of the territory. Brown 8c Sons in Logan, John Henry Bott & Sons in Brigham City, Elias Morris & Sons in Salt Lake City, A.H. Child and his son Thomas in Springville, and Henry K. and James Boyter in Beaver City were just a few of the family-run monument companies established during the last three decades of the nineteenth century. Unlike the first generation of gravestone carvers, most of the next generation were trained in Utah territory through hands-on experience working on temples and other community buildings. And they carved markers not only from local stone but also from a new resource: marble imported from the East. Marble is somewhat harder than sandstone and was considered a superior carving material. But high quality marble was not available locally, so after the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 many companies began importing it. They ordered carloads of marble rough-cut in chunks ready for carving as well as nearly completed markers ready for the addition of a name and dates. These pre-carved markers from quarries in Vermont were similar in profile and symbol to those being produced locally, so they were readily accepted by the public. Local gravestone businesses also liked them because they minimized carving time, helping the businesses keep up with the ever-growing demand. By the 1880s nearly all of the gravestones purchased in areas serviced by the railroad were made of marble, some carved in Vermont, others carved in Utah. With the advent of monument companies, most clients began to choose from an existing

UTAH

PRESERVATION

inventory of almost completed markers rather than order a custom stone. Since gravestone images typically reflect beliefs concerning life and death, monument companies wisely offered a repertoire of Biblical imagery, which was the basis for local beliefs and customs. Popular images included doves (representing the soul, peace, or the HolyGhost), lambs (suggesting Christ or his followers), generic flowers (symbolizing life) or roses and lilies (symbolizing love and the Resurrection). Also common were angels, the gates of heaven, the Bible itself, anchors proclaiming hope in the hereafter, or draperies suggesting both the funeral draper)' and the veil between heaven and earth. Another popular image was a hand or hands in various poses suggesting a variety of meanings. A hand with a finger pointing downward was a reminder that the body was buried below, while a finger pointing upward suggested that the soul had gone towards heaven. Two hands clasped in friendship symbolized departure or reunion between loved ones or between the deceased and God. Sometimes a hand (representing the body) was shown holding flowers (suggesting rebirth or the resurrection), and, in at least one eloquent marker carved by J.H. Bott, the hand (the body) gracefully releases a dove (the soul or the spirit) toward heaven. By the 1890s two then-popular symbols of mourning also became increasingly common in Utah graveyards. The use of the weeping willow, by itself or in combination with the image of a stone monument inscribed with the Latin phrase "in m o m e n t o m o n " (remember death), reflected the growing selfconsciousness and sentimentality found throughout American culture during that period. As the end of the nineteenth centuryapproached, Utah cemeteries were filled with the same gravestone images found in graveyards throughout the rest of the country. This was the result of Vermont's thriving business in gravestones and the fact that Utahns, like the majority of Americans, wanted markers featuring symbols of Biblical or Western European origin. Yet regional distinctions did persist, and in Utah cemeteries there is strong evidence of M o r m o n theological beliefs. For example, a number of the territory's earliest gravestone markers had been carved with beehives, the All-Seeing Eye of God, and the words "Holiness to the Lord," all symbols borrowed from Masonry and widely used by M o r m o n s during the first few

Distinctively designed and finely-carved gravemarkers, like this one in Virgin, are found in cemeteries throughout southwestern Utah. They are the work of Englishman Nathan Benson who operated a quarry for many years at the mouth of Parowan Canyon. This marker features the rose, a well-known symbol of love, that was among the many Biblical symbols understood and requested by Utah's Yankee and European pioneers.

decades after western settlement. These symbols embodied the Mormon communitarian ideal of working together to build God's Kingdom on earth and proclaimed M o r m o n belief in God's omniscience. But by the I 880s these images were no longer being chosen and Utah graveyards were being filled with the carved roses, doves, lambs and weeping willows found elsewhere. Yet one symbol, long associated with Christian-based Masonry, was chosen more frequently than others. Clasped hands became the most ubiquitous image in late nineteenth-century Utah graveyards, likely because it illustrated the Mormon core belief that the family would be reunited unit m the next world. While some Utah images of clasped hands feature generic robes at the wrists, depicting the reunion of God with the deceased, most have gender-specific clothing that suggests the reunion of the deceased with his or her spouse. Clasped hands remained popular until just after the turn of the twentieth century, when the image of the Mormon temple, the place where families are "sealed together for time and eternity," began to appear. Temples ultimately replaced clasped hands and today are the most popular symbol on Mormon gravestones. Utah cemeteries contain an inventory of locally produced nineteenth-century gravestones that is unparalleled in the American West. Both the earliest custom-made sxave-

This marker is typical of those attributed to the hands of Welshman John Parry. Carved for his friends and neighbors in Cedar City and Parowan, his gravestones are simple in design and typically contain a wealth of genealogical information. Interestingly, Parry was the father-in-law of Elias Morris, a Salt Lake engineer and stoneworker who produced marble gravemarkers that are still found throughout the Intermountain West.

One can only guess that preparing a marker for the grave of a child is among the hardest work carvers must do. Preparing another gravestone for the Samuel Orton family of Parowan must have been very difficult for T,H. Hickman given that Samuel had lost his wife, Julia, and five children within a five-month period. Perhaps that is why he memorialized nineteenth-month-old Osman by creating one of the most beautiful examples of 19th-century gravestone art found in Utah today.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

Emigrating from England as a child, J.H. Bott learned to carve stone here in Utah while working on the Salt Lake Temple. Among the thousands of marble markers he and his sons carved for local clients is this beautiful marker in the Willard Cemetery. It provides an eloquent statement of belief in the afterlife expressed through the upward release of the dove (or soul) towards heaven by the hand (or body) remaining on earth.

stones carved from local sandstone by pioneer craftsmen and the hand-carved marble markers produced by the territory's second and third-generation family-operated monument companies feature imagery and symbols that reflect local beliefs and concerns. Today the nineteenth-century gravemarkers that still exist represent a rich material legacy that should be preserved for both its cultural and artistic value. My own quest to document the work and discover the identity of early carvers will continue as I attempt to create a comprehensive record of their contributions as well as those of their twentieth-century counterparts. Through photo documentation and continuing efforts at public education, perhaps we can save this important heritage for future generations. <*

The ideal for Utah's 19th-century pioneers, like that of their eastern contemporaries, was to establish green, park-like resting places where nature's bounty reflected their beliefs in rejuvenation and resurrection. A century and a half later their dreams have largely been realized, though not without cost. The water and machinery needed to keep cemeteries green causes damage that continues to put Utah's gravemarkers in jeopardy.

With each

interesting, it is very time-consuming and has been

passing year we lose a few more of our hand-carved

prohibited in some regions of the country because of

nineteenth-century gravestones. Some markers are lost

potential damage to markers. So the best method for

PRESERVING

THE LEGACY

through the natural process of erosion caused by wind

documenting these cultural treasures is to photograph

and weather. This destruction is accelerated by our

them at midday when the rays of the overhead sun

attempt to maintain green, park-like burial grounds in

make the inscriptions and imagery more visible.

a desert climate by constant watering. Garden equip-

Another very important way to help preserve this

ment damages others. Sadly, many markers are also

unique material heritage is through public education.

lost through vandalism.

As children, Utahns need to be taught about the

Like most preservation issues, the question of

artistic, historical, and cultural value of gravestones, in

how best to save these rich artifacts is a difficult one.

the hope that they will become stewards rather than

Sometimes family members or others interested in

vandals of these treasures. Cemetery administrators

the preservation of particular stones have removed

and crews should be periodically reminded of the

markers from cemeteries and placed them in muse-

value of the gravestones as cultural artifacts, while the

ums or other repositories. For example, the grave-

public and government officials who demand well-

stone carved for Thomas Tanner by William Ward

manicured and watered cemeteries should become

(see page 68) was considered so extraordinary that

aware of the cost of this expectation. And interested

Mormon Church historians placed the original grave-

individuals and organizations need to continue to

stone in the LDS Church Museum of History and Art

educate the general public about this heritage.

and commissioned local stonecarver Hans Huettlinger

Among recent projects designed to publicly share

to carve a replica that was subsequently placed over

information about our cemeteries and their resources

Tanner's grave in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

are the periodic tours of Mt. Olivet and the Salt Lake

Because removing and replacing exceptional

City Cemetery, the publication of a brochure and an

gravemarkers is seldom an option, the most impor-

audio walking tour of the cemetery in Parowan, and

CAROL EDISON IS THE FOLK ARTS COORDINATOR FOR THE

tant tool for preservation becomes documentation.

public history programs in Bountiful and Murray in

UTAH ARTS COUNCIL.

Using carpenter's crayons or special waxes and inks

which descendents of pioneer settlers presented

UTAH

PRESERVATION

made for that purpose, some people enjoy "rubbing"

graveside historical vignettes of their ancestors' lives.

gravemarkers and transferring an exact copy of the

These projects and others like them teach all of us the

words and images onto fabric or paper. Though mak-

importance of our cemeteries as repositories of Utah's

ing an occasional gravestone rubbings can be quite

cultural and artistic heritage.

— - T — —

Foundation is a statewide nnn-rtv

.izatiofi supported mainly by membership and private resources.

Its mission is to preserve, protect, and promote ('lull's historic built environment through public aware* ness, advocacy, ana active preservation. VHP fulfills its mission through a wide range of programs and

Left: For several decades around the turn of the 20th century the Boyter family of Beaver operated a monument production company using both imported and locally quarried stone to supply the needs of Utah's ever-growing population. The marker, carved in 1892 for Margarett E. Richards, features two often-combined and popular Victorian-era symbols symbolizing death and mourning—the weeping willow and the words "In Memory of." It also features a popular verse that is among the most frequently used epitaphs on Utah gravestones. Right: Most of the gravestones in Salt Lake's Fort Douglas Cemetery date from the mid-to-late-19th-century. While the majority are small marble military markers, a number are carved from local sandstone, including the large monument in the center that commemorates the soldiers who died while participating in the Bear River Massacre.

For information on programs, services or membership:

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UTAH

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BY DONALD M. AND JANE LAYTON STROMQUIST IN 1957 DONALD AND JANE STROMQUIST MET WITH FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AT HIS STUDIO IN WISCONSIN TO PLAN WHAT WOULD BE WRIGHT'S ONLY PROJECT IN UTAH. THEY WOULD LATER SEND PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SITE, A SEVEN-ACRE PROPERTY IN NORTH CANYON, SOUTHEAST OF BOUNTIFUL, AS WELL AS SAMPLES OF THE SURROUNDING SOIL AND VEGETATION, WHICH MR. WRIGHT USED TO HELP DETERMINE COLORS FOR THE HOUSE. THE HOUSE

WAS COMPLETED AND THE STROMQUISTS MOVED IN AROUND 1961, AFTER MR. WRIGHT'S DEATH IN 1959. EVENTS PULLED THEM AWAY FROM UTAH AND THEIR HOME AFTER ONLY HALF-A-DOZEN YEARS. MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS LATER THEY WOULD HAVE A CHANCE TO RETURN TO THEIR DREAM HOME. THIS IS THEIR STORY AS THEY PLANNED TO MOVE BACK.

€ *$&*&%

Wrightian accents in the house include built-in seating, mitred corner windows, and decorative buffalo-motif doors in an opening between the kitchen and entrance hall.

he history of our Frank Lloyd Wright house has been well documented, but our leaving it and our subsequent return have not. In 1966, while still living in the house, we hosted a party for my U. S. Steel associates. My immediate superior, a very powerful vice-president from Pittsburgh, C. M. Henderson, who was soon to be made president over our division, was in town, therefore we proudly issued an invitation to him to join us at our home. On Henderson's arrival at the house, an expression of purest displeasure spread across his face. I suppose it rankled his West Virginia mind to think that a lowly employee of his should have the temerity to live in such an avant garde house. The comparison to the colonial box reproduction he lived in in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, had to trigger the conversation that followed. He took me aside that very night and, waving his cigarette holder, privately informed me that my place was with him in Pittsburgh, with no room for me any more in Utah. He later confirmed that this decision was final. My efforts to seek gainful employment in Utah other than U. S. Steel proved futile. We were forced to move to Pittsburgh in November 1966; the corporation bought the house at a loss to us. Now, I haven't known many people that I have disliked, but Henderson was an exception.

Our predicament, that of being forced to leave an architectural treasure we loved, was fulfillment in a way of Mr. Wright's prophecy to me and my wife during our visit to meet him at Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin, in August 1957. When he came over to greet us, he said, "Why, you're just a couple of kids." When he learned that I worked for a large corporation, he advised me to leave its employ, that my association with the firm would completely stifle whatever creative impulses I might later possess. Following Henderson's ultimatum, we arrived in Pittsburgh, my wife, three children and I, in November 1966. My wife sat down on the floor in the dark, three-story duplex I had rented and cried. There was nothing to compare to the emotional trauma of leaving the Wright cottage we had worked so hard to get, with its giant roaring fireplace, soaring walls of glass encased in mahogany trim, the fifty feet of built-in sofa upholstered in brilliant coral colored fabric, forty like-colored throw pillows, the glorious vistas in every directionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in short, a wonderful, spacious work of art. It took two years from 1966 to sever employment with U. S. Steel and go on my own in Utah as a consultant and manufacturer's representative for several firms involved in mining equipment, chemicals, explosives and plant design. Soon after our move back to Utah in 1968,

we visited the house and found its condition so bad it brought tears to our eyes. It had apparently been left vacant after our departure and was vandalized and mistreated by transients and others. The once lovely mahogany walls were defaced with hippie posters. Wood shelves, bookcases, cupboards and mahogany doors had been brutally torn out, whacked up and used for firewood. Many remaining cupboards and their interior were smoke-blackened from a fire in the house center that began, we understood, from the furnaces. Dirty, rusty tin cans were piled on the kitchen counters up to the bottoms of the cupboards that were left and mingled with used hypodermic needles. One visit found a deer carcass on the ground and a group of remaining doors and windows open to the weather and insects. Some time later the house was sold to a man who contributed more to its degradation -installation of a wood-burning stove in the entry and purple flocked wallpaper on some of the block walls. He may have removed the abstract buffalo-design doors that were hung over the kitchen sink, which were later found decaying and warped in a snow bank up the hill from the house. During his ownership, the massive angular fireplace grate in the living room fireplace, with its heavy metal V-like structure, had one group of ends dangling and apparently melted like curled and solidified noodles from high temperatures.

UTAH

PRESERVATION

of things. It is an imitation or representation of life, but no mechanical copy. That which it imitates is the soul of the matter. Beauty is unity - the cooperation and symmetry of the parts in a whole." Our house surely features unity and simplicity in the true Wrightian way. Its unity is established by a basic unit-a diamond module-and everything in the house's design proliferates from this module (parallelograms, triangles, etc.). All great art and music grow from a simple unified origin. Simplicity is established by repetition of identical hardwood, cupboards, closets, hassocks, and chairs, uniform finish on woodwork, uniform coloring, uniform fabric, and uniform house structure. We agree with Wright that "cluttered houses make cluttered minds." And certain objects that once were featured in our Second Empire Victorian house will not give or add high value here. In the early 1960s the Stromquist house was the sole occupant of Bountiful's North Canyon. Today the area is teeming with large new homes.

We later learned the source of the heat was a bellows and carbon-fueled blacksmith's fire used to heat horseshoes for bending while the horse waited for shoeing in the living room. We thought recovery and regeneration of the house to its former condition to be impossible. Unknown to us, George Frandsen and David Carlquist also saw the house in this condition, but they thought restoration possible, though difficult. George Frandsen was so delighted at finding a Frank Lloyd Wright

becoming the owners of the house once again. When they called a few years later, we were ready. We consummated the purchase of the house and grounds in 1998. We are grateful to George and David for allowing us to do this. The title of American writer Thomas Wolfe's acclaimed novel, "You Can't Go Home Again," states a truth that is difficult to buck. Difficult but not impossible. "The only way to go home again," advises a literary commentator in the novel's addendum,

We are trying to get the house just right before we move in. Some hassocks and a large dining table (9' 5" long by 4' 3" wide), both part of the original house design and built by me over forty years ago and retained over all the years, will be pressed into service. The table will be placed at a 60/120 degree angle from the south living room wall, where it resided before. In its own way it repeats the angular diamond module etched in the concrete living room floor. In our master bedroom the fireplace was not capable of functioning without a parceling out of a certain amount of smoke when we were there originally; the solution to its

OUR HOUSE SURELY FEATURES UNITY AND SIMPLICITY IN THE TRUE WRIGHTIAN WAY. ITS UNITY IS ESTABLISHED BY A BASIC UNIT - A DIAMOND MODULE - AND EVERYTHING IN THE HOUSE'S DESIGN PROLIFERATES FROM THIS MODULE. house in a beautiful canyon, he thought it was like the Mona Lisa coming unannounced to Bountiful and waiting to be discovered. The two bought the place around 1990 and, with as much stoicism and relentlessness and passion as we had in building and completing it, transformed the house from a wreck to a habitable residence. We became acquainted with George and David. They invited us to attend an open house in about 1995 and asked us to speak to a group of people attending. George and David also informed us that should they ever sell we would be the preferred buyers. From that moment we pledged ourselves to

UTAH

PRESERVATION

"is to succumb to the temptation of looking back, yet never cease to continue moving forward." We think we have found a way to do this with our house. Typical of Wright's designs, this house offers thoughtful spaces that exude good feelings. But there are more layers to appreciate. A person going from one space to another and observing as one goes is enticed to look, move on, and be drawn by the spiritual nature of the place to see things somewhat differently than one did before. There is always something new to notice. In our opinion, the house is a holy place-an artistic expression. Aristotle noted that, "The purpose of art is to capture the essential form

problem escaped us. We consulted with an expert on fireplace design for high altitudes, our friend and architect Burtch Beall, and found from him that a 6,000 foot elevation demanded a bigger flue. To remedy this defect, we commissioned master stone mason Mike Austin and his associate to correct the problem. Mr. Austin made his way through an opening from a removed cupboard in the center of the house and adjacent to the existing flue, a two-foot by two-foot by six-andone-half-foot high work space. Using this tiny access he worked his way up with a hammer and tools to a height of about twenty feet, removing concrete block and flue pieces

as he went. He then installed two flues with more than double the cross sectional area of the old one, mended sections where blocks had been removed with new ones, and repaired this enlarged block and flue surround with a larger flue damper. The larger damper was not a stock item and proved difficult to find. My long time friend and neighbor, the witty and clever Robert Ashdown, constructed a new larger damper from scratch in less than a day, working from what Ashdown calls, the architects' "funny papers" (engineering drawings to the uninitiated). This too was installed by Mike Austin, who later confided to me that working in such a claustrophobic space was one of his most scary projects. In a matter of days he healed the design fault in the non-functioning fireplace. A Herculean effort in a tiny work space. The house was perfectly placed in its arroyo. To the east and through any of the eastern windows there is a dense growth of native trees, shrubs, our walled-in yard and garden, and a picturesque tool house. To the west from the living room windows there is a never ending view of the western sky, a part of Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, and sunsets stretching on and beyond compare. Then the winter, again from the east-oh my, a Niagara of ice reaching from the lowest point of the slanted roof to the ground-three or four feet from what were the children's bedroom windows. One of the questions Mr. Wright asked us, after studying our photographic slides of the property, was where the house would have to be placed to open up the V-shaped valley-wide scene to best effect from the living room. This is where the house was placed, not on top of a hill, but off it. From a source I no longer remember, " O God," said one mystic, "I never listen to the cry of animals, or the quivering of trees, or the murmur of water, or the song of birds, or the rustling wind, or the crashing thunder, without feeling them to be an evidence of thy unity, and a proof that there is nothing like unto thee." From residence in the Wright home, we have learned first hand that nature fluctuates Top: The Stromquists relaxing in their new home in the early 1960s. Middle and Bottom: The house under construction c. 1960. It was a challenge finding contractors with the skills and patience to work with the unique angles and forms of Wright's design. Typical of Wright's "Usonian" architecture, the house featured a central core, cantilevered porches and overhangs, and expansive windows.

constantly; the seasons, moon, sun, stars and planets, the colors, temperatures, rain and snow - and thus we are mindful of changes in our own human doings, our roots, our vulnerability and mortality. And that, above all, we once had a fleeting experience in a profound little cottage, and hopefully will live to have more. We are overwhelmed by the spirituality of the house, as indeed we were forty years ago. It puts us in mind of the chorus in Braham's Requiem: For all flesh is as grass,/ And all the

glory of man/ As the flower of grass./ The grass withereth,/ And the flower thereof falleth away/ But the word of the Lord endureth forever (1 Peter 1:24,25). And from Durant, The Life of Greece, "It appears to us that there is much more to life than momentary satisfactions, there is a pleasure in contemplating any work of true art; and it is the mark of a civilization to provide the souls with works worthy of such contemplation." Frank Lloyd Wright gave us that opportunity.

The backyard, now shaded by mature trees, is defined by a retaining wall that emphasizes the house's horizontal lines. Note the clerestory windows - Wright's way of bringing light to the interior of the house.

Mrs. Stromquist died in November

1999

shortly after helping write this article but before being able to realize their dream of moving back into the house. Mr. Stromquist has continued with preparations for the move, which he hopes will take place in early 2000.

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