Utah Heritage Foundation

Back on May 19, Salt Lake City Planning held a workshop with property and business owners, nearby residents, stakeholders, and other interested parties to discuss how to make 400 South a more inviting, livable corridor through good planning.  With large maps and markers, participants were able to describe their perfect neighborhood.  They included ideas about future land use, historic preservation, housing, transportation, jobs, walkability and transportation, and more.

This work is taking place thanks to a grant to the city from HUD to focus efforts on building better community around the three TRAX stops on the boulevard.

Of course, there are likely hundreds of historic properties within the 1/2 mile wide corridor that is being studied.  Many of those that exist today are in direct conflict with the city's zoning which allows up to 7 1/2 stories within the transit corridor, which is one block on either side of the transit line on 400 South.

Project

Conduct inspections of the 118 properties on which Utah Heritage Foundation holds historic preservation easements.  The process involves sending pre-inspection letters to property owners, documenting each elevation of the buildings with photographs and a written assessment, evaluating changes in the condition of the buildings since the previous inspection (2010), making recommendations to property owners in a follow-up letter, and writing a summary of the inspection findings for the UHF Board of Trustees.

Time Frame

Written by Ross M. Bradford

19 Rutland Square in Boston’s South End National Register District is the property at issue in Kaufman v. Commissioner. (Photo: Rebecca Williams, NTHP)

Easement-holding organizations along with past and potential donors of easements should take note of the recent tax court case Kaufman v. Commissioner 134 T.C. 9 (2010) because it has the potential to have disastrous consequences for past and future preservation and conservation easement donations. In response to this flawed decision, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed an amicus brief in support of the taxpayer’s motion requesting reconsideration of the court’s ruling.

As

The narrow and tall, striking red sandstone building at 22 East 100 South known as the “Brownstone Building” has seen more than its share of mall construction over the decades.  But current owner Bill Campbell isn’t waiting for City Creek Center to be completed to ensure that the historic building he owns will be around for decades to come as he has signed a preservation easement with Utah Heritage Foundation to protect the property in perpetuity.

Originally built as the Utah Commercial & Savings Bank Building by Francis Armstrong in 1890, the three-story building is one of the rare examples of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in the state of Utah, as seen in the photo at left (Courtesy Utah State Historical Society).   Bank President Armstrong was an energetic entrepreneur who after a short time working in Brigham Young’s flour mill at the bottom of Parley’s Canyon, formed a lumber mill and general contracting business known as Taylor, Romney and Armstrong Co.  He went on to serve in county government from 1881 until 1886 when he was elected Mayor of Salt Lake City.

Architect Richard K.A. Kletting, “Dean of Utah Architects,” served as designer for the building.  Expectations were high as one journalist predicted that upon its completion it would be “the finest front of any building in Utah.”  Every floor is custom designed and reflected on the exterior by the window patterns.   The red sandstone is intricately carved with leaf and basketweave designs on projecting elements.  The overall effect of the building’s design is one of order and strength, principles made popular by H.H. Richardson in some of the best surviving examples of the Richardsonian Romanesque style in Chicago, Boston, and New York.

Today, the Utah