Utah Heritage Foundation

Preservationist and friend of UHF, Cevan LeSieur, will present a history of the Avenues on Thursday, February 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Sweet Library Branch (9th Avenue and F Street).  He will present material from the two upcoming books on the Avenues that he authored and will be out in 2012.

If you like Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor's venerable homespun show that is long on tradition and dry wit, then this new, locally produced show may be for you.  Story Road Utah is the ambitious attempt to tell Utah's story through music, traditional poetry and prose, and the art of storytelling.  Naturally there is a thread of Utah's heritage through most of the material.  The show is produced for and with a live audience for broadcast at a later date.

Two articles in three days have highlighted UPHA’s “Story Road Utah” which will begin its summer series at the Murray Amphitheatre (495 Ea. 5300 So.) this Saturday, June 11^th at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for seniors and children.

The Murray episode features host Marvin Payne and house band Enoch Train plus the Days of ’47 Royalty (Courtney Curtis, Ashley Kearl, Megan Howell), storytellers Holly Robinson and Wendy DeMann, and guest performers Jenessa Butters, who sings the part of a Native American mother, and Sarah Coon, singing the part of her child.

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Samuel Newhouse was one of Salt Lake City's most wealthy mining moguls. He had aspirations to build the "Wall Street of the West" right here in Salt Lake City, and it was called Exchange Place. Newhouse donated the land to build several commercial buildings including Salt Lake's first skyscrapers – the Boston and Newhouse buildings. Exchange Place Turned 100 last year and we are celebrating a belated birthday with FREE Summer Tours.  Come see areas of many of the buildings not available to the public and insights into what each one means to downtown Salt Lake.

Exchange Place, Salt Lake City

The Exchange Place Historic District, designated in 1978, is the city's only purely commercial local historic district.

Salt Lake City has a wealth of Classical style architecture from the Moss Federal Courthouse, to the Brownstone Building (historic Utah Commercial & Savings Bank) that houses Martine and Oh Shucks as well as offices, to the interior of the Utah Theatre.  The classical styles are rooted here in Utah's history as an emerging state, closely following the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago that helped revive the ideals of classicism across many walks of life.

A new chapter of a group that highlights the hsitory and benefits of classicism has been founded in Utah and will host a series of upcoming events that are open to the public starting Thursday, May 19.  Events will range from lectures to workshops to tours.

  View the invitation for 2011 ICA&A events.

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Taming the West....Changing Landscapes and Resource Extraction

ANNUAL CONFERENCE SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS

Anyone interested in the future of museums on the Internet will want to look at the new National Portal to Historic Collections, a revolutionary system that allows searches through dozens of historic collections, from small local museums to collections of the Smithsonian, National Parks, and U.S. Navy.

Here are some great new web resources that are available.

Utah Architecture Guide by Utah Division of State History

The guide combines the original Utah's Historic Architecture, 1847-1940: a Guide, authored by Thomas Carter and Peter Goss, along with information gathered over the years to update and expand their original work.  The web design is in a user-friendly format with original photos and additional photos of other examples pulled from Utah Historic Preservation Office National Register and survey files.

For decades running, the Hotel Utah provided the finest accommodations in Salt Lake City.  It has been a preferred location for historic President’s visits, weddings and family celebrations, home to LDS Church general authorities, and meetings in the restaurants.

Never having been in the hotel (since I moved here in 1998), I never saw it firsthand but I can get the sense of its historic spaces still.  I get the sense that this is one of those places in Utah that many people have a very strong association with and passionate feelings for.  When I talk about the building with people, the most frequent comment I hear back is how beautiful the china place-settings were.  The next most common seems to be a remark about the beehive cupola located on the roof.

A new website has been launched that documents the history of the hotel as well as the rehabilitation and adaptive use conversion of the building to offices in 1987, now known as the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  The site also features historic photos of the building through the years. 

Superlatives and smiles abounded at the St. George Historic Homes Tour the afternoon of Saturday, January 15, 2011.  Preservation Commissioner Lynne Cobb pronounced the event “Wildly Successful,” after hosting an estimated 500+ guests at the National Register-listed William F. Butler House.

UHF Field Rep Susan Crook reported 336 guests signed in at the Arthur Miles House where she served as host, but the actual count was probably over 700.  St. George Live! actor Durrant McArthur, in period costume as his pioneer forbear Daniel McArthur, greets a guest in the parlor of the Miles House during the tour (left). 

In addition to St. George Live! actors, tour guides included preservation commissioners and staff, and Washington County Historical Society board members.  The volunteers piled into St. George Live! buses for a preview tour Friday afternoon, seen below at Green Gate Village near Judd’s Store, which has been in continuous operation for 100 years.  The iconic St. George Tabernacle is in the background.  The St. George Historic Homes Tour was one of the kick-off events for the City’s sesquicentennial celebration.

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

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