Utah Heritage Foundation

There's been lots of news in the world of Utah historic preservation lately, so I thought a summary would be in order.

Yes to Granite

On Monday, October 17, The Salt Lake Tribune endorsed the bond election in South Salt Lake to buy and rehabilitate Granite High School.  So has Utah Heritage Foundation.  The UHF Preservation Round-up blog talked about the benefits of this bond on three separate occasions (here and here and here).

Proposed Development Plan for Pleasant Grove Civic Center

Position Statement 

September 2, 2011

Camp Floyd State Park is hosting Camp Floyd Days on Labor Day Weekend, September 3 and 5, 2011.  The event will allow visitors to experience camp life and participate in several activities performed by soldiers of Johnston’s Army.  Events include reenactments, encampments, stagecoach rides (Monday 12pm - 2pm), firearm and cannon demonstrations, marches, drills, 1861 period games, and photos in period uniform.  The events will be conducted 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both days.

A Utah Furniture Lecture and Antiques Workshop is also scheduled on Saturday, September 3rd from 1pm - 3pm.  The lecture details the recently placed furnishings in the Stagecoach Inn which accurately portray and interpret how the settlers of Fairfield lived during the 1860’s.  The Antiques Workshop provides an opportunity for visitors to bring in an antique to receive an informal appraisal from representatives of the Utah Antique Dealers Association.  The cost for each appraisal is $5.  This event was funded in part by a grant from the Utah Humanities Council and the Utah Preservation Initiatives Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Standard museum entrance fees are $2 per person or $6 per family.  Food concession and stagecoach rides will be available to purchase at the event.

At the regular meeting of the Utah Heritage Foundation Board of Trustees on January 20, 2011, the Trustees voted unanimously in a resolution to “support saving the historic exterior walls of the Provo Tabernacle.“  This resolution was made with the intent to strongly encourage The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to rebuild.

Several Trustees expressed the same deep heartache that the residents and regular users of the Provo Tabernacle felt to see a physical landmark of this stature that held memories from childhood, teen and college years, and adulthood fall to a ruinous end.  Thus the reason for the passage of this recent resolution in hopes that there will be news of a positive announcement in the near future.

What do you think should happen at the Provo Tabernacle?  Give us your feedback.

Read the UHF Board of Trustees Resolution on the Provo Tabernacle.

Read the history of the Provo Tabernacle from the Salt Lake Architecture blog.

Who said that economic times were slow?  Certainly not in Utah County.  You can witness rapid investment priming the pump of Utah’s economy all over Utah County, and especially in downtown Provo where the cranes are rising and trucks are hauling.

Unfortunately, one of the things the trucks are hauling is demolition debris from several older and historic buildings in Provo’s downtown historic district.  Yes, it was certainly time for some of these to probably go as they had been underutilized, unsupported by economic development programs for years, and thus neglected.  But there was still some charm and character in their scale and features and thus their contribution provided some good nature to being there.  Even in the last round of discussions with the Landmarks Commission, there was acknowledgment that in the future the city cannot allow contributing buildings to be altered, thus making them non-contributing buildings while they are listed in the local historic district or they will be de-listed and demolished just like these buildings.

So what the historic district is getting in place of handsome brick and stone, arched windows with lintels and keystones, Art Moderne and Victorian Commercial styles is glass, glass, and more glass.  On the North side, the Utah County convention center will take nearly an entire block and include a small plaza, but not include an entrance door along the entire stretch of 200 West, even though it looks like it does.