Centre Theater & Shopping Center
The location of the Centre Theater and Shops (NE corner of Broadway and State in Salt Lake City) is the historic site of the first Utah irrigation in 1847. The Knutsford Hotel, Sears Roebuck, and the Auerbach department store then occupied the site for many years until 1935 when the building was demolished as being…
Heber City Library
The story of the 1939 Heber City library began in June 1937 when the Heber Mercantile – housing the library – burned to the ground. The store lost $35,000 of inventory, while the library lost all – excepting 500 – of their 10,000 books ($150,000 fire sweeps; Hollis). For the next few months, Heber City…
Kaysville City Hall
In November of 1940, Kaysville Mayor Thornley K. Swan announced construction of a $55,000 city hall building. Funding was originally split between a 1941 city bond and $20,000 of WPA (Works Project Administrations) funds. The original building design included city offices, library, kitchen, assembly hall and a vault for records (Old rock building). The exterior…
Park City War Memorial Veterans Building
Park City’s historic War Memorial Building was built with strong support of the Summit County commissioners who realized the county was “in need of such a structure where all religions, business groups, [and] civic groups could meet on common ground in a building suitable for all occasions” (Formal opening). The central elevation of the two-story…
Rich County Court House
The 1941 Rich County courthouse replaced an 1888 courthouse that was torn down for the new construction (Rich County dates). Discussion began in May 1940 when Raymond Ashton – at the county commissioners’ request – presented a drawing for a new Rich County courthouse. He proposed a one-story concrete building built with “W.P.A. labor, salvage…
Salt Lake City Library, Sprague Branch
The first Sprague branch of the Salt Lake City Public Library opened in 1914 in rented quarters near the center of the Sugar House business district. It was named for Joanna H. Sprague, the well-respected head of the Salt Lake City public library. The building of a new Sprague branch library was promoted by the…
Saltair (Restoration & expansion)
Everyone in my family grew up knowing that Ashton & Evans designed Saltair! But as a non-Utah native, sorting out the details (pre-Wikipedia) was harder than I expected. First, Saltair is much more than the pavilion and swimming beach, but a full-scale amusement park. And second, there were three Saltairs (Saltair I, II, and III)…