Salt Lake City
Ashton, Elias Conway & Rosabel Residence
E. Conway Ashton was born in Salt Lake City in 1880, seven years before his brother, the architect Raymond J. Ashton. As young men, both brothers learned to lay brick and worked on their father’s construction projects. When Conway was 19, he served a two-year Latter-day Saint mission in Colorado. He graduated from the University…
Bear and Cougar Grottos, Hogle Zoo
Utah Zoological Society was founded in 1911 inside Liberty Park. For the next twenty years, the small, unsophisticated location housed monkeys, birds, and elephant Princess Alice purchased from a traveling circus. But the location was subpar: Princess Alice escaped often, wandering down 700 East. In 1931 Mr. and Mrs. James Hogle donated 32 acres at…
Berntson, John & Alice residence
The earliest Utah newspaper references to John Berntson show his successes (at 43 years old) at the annual Norwegian-American Athletic Club’s ski tournament: 3rd place in the 6-mile cross country ski event and 2nd place in the standing ski jump (Kalmar Andreason). There must be a backstory here, and there is! Berntson was born in…
Capitol Hill Ward
The Capitol Hill Ward was organized in April, 1925 from parts of the 17th, 19th, and 24th LDS Wards. The members spent several months “of diligent search” and decided on the current triangular lot near the capitol. However, trouble was brewing. That lot was owned by the State of Utah, and as a result of…
Carver Sheet Metal
Carver Sheet Metal was incorporated in 1908 (as Liberty Sheet Metal Works) at 231 West S Temple. They focused on manufacturing furnace ducts and architectural trim. Business was good, and not long afterwards (1915) they moved to 49 Post Office Place. Soon thereafter they began producing ‘red and green semaphore lights’ invented by C. J….
Cate Equipment Company Office & Warehouse
Cate Equipment Company has served the construction, mining and industrial industries in the intermountain west since 1938. They provide new and used machine sales, rentals, parts, service, and repairs. In 1956 they commissioned Ashton, Evans & Brazier to build a new office and warehouse to replace their then-current headquarters building on 900 South in Salt…
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…
Evans, Raymond L. & Marie Residence
The Ashton, Evans and Brazier inventory (“Some of the projects designed by Raymond Leslie Evans,” 1963) lists this property as “For self.” He had built his first home at 1445 S 1500 E in 1924 as a wedding gift to his wife, Marie. Sixteen years later, he built this second home (right next door) for…
Exeter, T. Hazen & Juanita residence
Ashton & Evans designed several well-publicized all-electric homes in conjunction with Utah Power & Light: Exhibition House (Country Club Acres, 1930), Home of Ideas (Olmstead, 1936), and All Electric Home (Preston ID, n.d.). Less well known is the Exeter residence – a Blue Star Natural Gas Home designed and built in conjunction with Utah Gas…
Exhibition House
Building speculative (spec) houses isn’t new. In 1930, Ashton & Evans contracted with Architectural Building Company to design a spec house in the new Country Club Acres development at the foot of Parley’s Canyon. It was – and still is – a prestigious neighborhood with current home prices over $1 million. Advertising for this home…
Federal Reserve Bank, Salt Lake City branch
The original Salt Lake branch of the Federal Reserve Bank opened in 1918. The Ashton, Evans & Brazier (AEB) building (1958) was its fourth location in 40 years and more than 60 years later the AEB structure still serves the Federal Reserve on the corner of 100 S and State Streets. This property was purchased…
Fisher Brewing Company Brewhouse & Grain Storage
Fisher Brewery was one of Utah’s first breweries, founded by Albert Fisher on the banks of the Jordan River in 1884. The river, more pristine than it is today, was the source of water for the brewery. The architect of the original buildings is unknown, but by late 1885, Richard Kletting, the architect of the…
George Thomas Library
In 1905 the University of Utah’s Board of Regents expanded Richard Kletting’s original commons plan into the present horseshoe arrangement. Between 1900 and 1935, nine buildings were built on the horseshoe, the Thomas Library being the last. These nine buildings, the Presidents’ Circle, were a major architectural statement chronicling the development of the University into…
Governor Charles R. Mabey Residence
Charles Randall Mabey was born in Bountiful, UT and grew up as one of eleven children on a nearby family farm. At the age of 15, with only a fifth-grade education, he matriculated at the University of Utah, where he developed a lifelong passion for learning and graduated after three-and-a-half years. He began his career…
Hancock, Isaac A. Residence
This well-known Prairie School home was built for Isaac A. (“Ike”) and Emily Hancock in 1913 as one of the first structures in Yale Park. The Yale Park subdivision was platted in 1913; and recorded and marketed in the same year by the Ashton – Jenkins Company (Edward T. Ashton was Raymond’s father). Yale Park…
Jackson, Irvin A. & Mary Residence
In 1926 Normandie Heights was the last large (140 lots) subdivision platted in the Yalecrest (Salt Lake City) neighborhood. It is distinctive, even within Yalecrest, because of its rolling topography, landscaped serpentine streets, prominent homeowners, deep setbacks, and large irregularly shaped lots. Ashton-Jenkins Company (Raymond Ashton’s brother) sold many of the Normandie Heights properties, and…
Kennecott Copper Research Center
For University of Utah President Ray Olpin, a post-war university had an obligation to more directly demonstrate its value to society. He believed that goal could be accomplished by transforming the university from a purely academic institution to one actively pursuing research that could impact the state’s economy. This vision materialized in the form of…
Le Grand Ward
The Le Grand Ward was organized in 1913, and immediately thereafter began erection of a chapel at the intersection of McClelland St and Yale Avenue in Salt Lake City. The Le Grand Ward is one of the many structures designed by Raymond Ashton prior to the 1922 Ashton & Evans partnership. In fact, Le Grand…
McCullough, R. Verne & Irene Residence
The R. Verne McCullough home was built in 1924 in Yalecrest’s Upper Yale Park subdivision. Raymond Ashton’s brother, doing business as Ashton-Jenkins Company, developed the 97 Upper Yale Park plats (Lufkin). McCullough was an interesting character and a renaissance man: a well-known attorney (Doctor of Jurisprudence from Stanford), businessman (Crystal Palace supermarket chain and many…
Modernization Exposition
Raymond Ashton was the vice president and general manager of the 1934 Modernization Exposition held in two floors of a large downtown building (previously the Knutsford hotel and leased from the Auerbach company for the show). The show was capitalized at $30,000, sponsored by the Modernization Committee of the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce,…
Mountain States Tel. & Tel: Main Building
The architectural style of the Salt Lake City 1940 Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph (MST&T) main building is well known as one of the “few Art Deco structures in Utah and … a fine example of this style” (McCormick). But the design is only part of the story. The building construction is least as significant:…
Redman Van & Storage Company Warehouse & Office
The Redman Van and Storage Company Building is part of the Sugar House neighborhood about four-and-a-half miles southeast of central Salt Lake City. Construction was begun in 1945 and needed approval by the Civilian Production Administration (recently transitioned from the War Production Board) (New Redman warehouse). When built, Redman Van and Storage fronted the national…
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…
Siegel, Dal & Cecelia residence
The history of the Dal Siegel home is sparser and more confusing than other homes of this era. Among other things I don’t have solid evidence that the final build design is actually an Ashton & Evans’ design (see Research Notes section, below). It is clear that Dal Siegel built the striated brick residence in…
Sterling W. Sill Home Living Center
Traditionalist styles dominated US university architecture in the first half of the 20th Century. However, by mid-century, Modernism was embraced as a preferred style of campus architecture as these designs were simple and relatively inexpensive to construct. At the University of Utah, an additional factor favoring Modernism was the establishment of the School of Architecture…
Temple Square Hotel and Ballroom
The six-story Temple Square Hotel was built in 1929 for the Zions Security Corp (the financial arm of the LDS Church). With 200 rooms, it was strategically located on the NE corner of South Temple and West Temple, immediately across from the LDS Temple Square. The original press notice (S.L. to have) notes that Zions…
Twenty First Ward Cultural Hall Addition
This property on 1st Avenue has served the LDS church with three different structures, beginning with a chapel and cultural hall in 1877. That building had served its purpose by the early 20th century. The Chapel was replaced in 1904 and the cultural hall in 1926 as part of a large Ashton & Evans addition….
Twenty Seventh Ward Cultural Hall Addition
The Twenty Seventh Ward was created in January 1902 and the membership immediately began meeting in Taggert Hall over a drug store until their new chapel at 187 P Street was complete. During construction, members would stop by the site on their way to-or-from work to help with the building. The Victorian Gothic-style chapel was…
Union Building
Between 1900 and 1935, nine buildings were built on the University of Utah commons (Presidents Circle), the 1928 Union Building being the penultimate. These nine buildings were a major architectural statement chronicling the development of the University into an important educational institution (National Park). In 1922 university students had expressed an urgent need for a…
University of Utah Medical Center (Planning)
The University of Utah Medical Center was a multi-year project: from concept discussion (1945) until opening (1965). This page covers the timeline up-to-and-including the concept approval in early 1959. The University of Utah Medical School opened in 1905 and for many years followed a ‘brains not bricks’ motto, prioritizing faculty appointments, not buildings. By the…
Wells Ward Amusement Hall
The Wells Ward was created in June 1919 and at the same time it was announced that “plans for the immediate building of a meeting house will be completed within a few days” (L.D.S. create). It was true, only 16 days later (July), the location of the new building on 500 East near 2100 South…
Wells Ward Chapel Addition
Wells Ward was created in June 1919 and religious services were held in the new Wells Ward Amusement Hall from March 1920 until 1926 at which time the Wells Ward Chapel addition was built. The “preliminaries” (preliminary designs) for the chapel had been developed in 1920 by Rutherford and Ashton. However Francis Rutherford moved to…
Yalecrest Ward
Yale Ward was divided and Yalecrest Ward organized on 29 Dec 1935. At that time, the new bishopric was sustained along with R. Verne McCullough as chairman of the Yalecrest building committee (New L.D.S ward). Note that A&E had designed McCullough’s Yalecrest residence ten years earlier. Groundbreaking was held in May 1936.The building is a…