Noble Place (originally Noble Court) is actually a group of six duplexes. The buildings, constructed of striated brick in the mission-style, were built in 1925 by developer Samuel Cottam. Both the buildings and the surrounding green space have been exceptionally well maintained. The complex is unique both for its architectural style (a possible nod to nearby Trolley Square) and its courtyard arrangement.
The Spiking Tourist Lodge is one of the vintage motels along State Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. It opened in 1945. Until around 2010 it had a neon sign.
Built in 1908 in Old English Tudor style for W. Lester Mangum and his wife, Jennie Knight Mangum, daughter of Jesse Knight. Architect: Walter C. Ware Contractors: Alexander Brothers of Provo
In 1908 Jesse Knight, a local businessman who lived down the street in his mansion built this home for his daughter Jennie and her husband along with the mansion across the street from this one for his other daughter. When they were designing the house Jennie had been out to the Provo Foundry to look at the brick options and saw a big pile of trashed bricks, those that had been distorted in the brick making process, clinker bricks, as they were called are not unheard of in local architecture (see this page) but Jennie decided to use only clinker bricks for this home – she got them for free and it made for a very unique look. It inspired a few other Provo homes to use clinker brick as well.
Lester never could seem to get out of financial struggles, so when the depression came they sold the home to someone who split it all up into apartments. In the 1960s, Mike Baughman (an interior designer and BYU professor) purchased the home, after him was a polygamist minister. He had his family and wives in the different apartments and used the carriage house in the back for the chapel. Later, when the Halladay’s purchased the home in 1983 the baptismal font room was entirely encased in mold. They restored the carriage house and rented it out as apartments.
Reed Halladay had grown up in the area and always loved the home and had many apartment buildings around town so when the chance came up to purchase the home he and his wife jumped on it. They have rented it out and refurbished it, in July 2020 they held an open house after renovations and 25 of the polygamist family came through the open house to see the house they or their parents had lived in 35-ish years before.
(The above story was told to me by the current owner and contradicts some of the information below, but I have included both.)
W. Lester Mangum was a son-in-law of Jesse Knight who was an important businessman in early twentieth-century Provo. Mangum held executive positions in many of the Knight industries and amassed a fortune for himself.
The Knight-Mangum house was built in 1908 for W. Lester and Jennie Knight Mangum at a cost of $40,000. The Mangums obtained the money to build the house by selling valuable Knight mining stocks they had bought for a very small price. Walter E. Ware, a prominent Salt Lake City architect, designed the house and Alexander Brothers was the contractor.
W. Lester Mangum was born in 1873 in Nephi, Utah. He attended B.Y.U. and was subsequently an instructor of English at the school. In 1905 he married Jennie Knight, the daughter of mining magnate and entrepreneur Jesse Knight. Mangum was quickly included in the Knight family businesses and held different executive positions in these businesses. He also served as vice-president and manager of the American Colombian Corporation which owned huge tracts of land in South America. Mangum was active in the L.D.S. Church, and served as a member of his stake’s high council.
Jennie Knight Mangum was born in 1885 in Payson, Utah, the fifth child of Jesse and Amanda Knight. She was very active in civic and church affairs in Provo.
Jennie Knight Mangum sold the house in 1966 to Paul G. Salisbury. Salisbury deeded the house to Mike Baughman in 1972 and Baughman renovated the building.
Architecture:
The Knight-Mangum house is significant as the most sophisticated example of a Craftsman house in Provo and as one of the best examples of that style in the state. It is one of several premier examples of this type that were designed by the successful Salt Lake City architectural firm of Ware and Treganza. Alberto O. Treganza, the principal designer of the firm, had worked for the famous San Diego firm of Hebbard and Gill, and the design of the Knight-Mangum house may reflect the influence of that experience.
This two and one half story house is one of the most outstanding Craftsman style houses in Utah. It has an asymmetrical composition, steep gable roof with exposed rafters, decorative stick work on the top two stories, cross gables and gable dormers, exposed purlins, decorative brackets along the roofline, and a flat roofed single story porch with exposed rafters that wraps around the southeast corner. The house rests on a raised concrete basement. Clinker brick has been used for the first story, for the posts of the porch, for the chimneys, and for the wall that surrounds the house. The upper stories are wood frame and stucco with stick work. The windows are grouped in various arrangements, including a three part bay window on the second story gable end of the facade, and are casements with decorative wood stripping. The main entrance is set under an open porch whose gable roof repeats the lines of the cross gable and the dormer. It is supported by clinker brick piers. An all glass door is flanked by side lights which have stained glass stripping around their edges. The craftsman elements which tie the building together include: the variety of materials; the use of natural materials and structural elements for ornamentation; the bands of windows accented by stickwork; the stickwork of the upper stories, exposed rafters, purlins, and brackets; and the irregular massing coupled with an organic balance.
Changes in the fenestration of the west wall and the addition of a two story exterior staircase on the northwest corner are alterations which detract from the original integrity of the building, but are not significant enough to destroy its original effect. A one story rear extension maybe original. The interior of the house has been changed considerably, having been divided into eleven apartments. When it was later converted into office space more changes were made. Those changes, however, except for the ones mentioned previously are not reflected on the exterior of the house.
Built in 1896 for Gideon A. Gibbs Later Owned By Elbert D. Thomas, U.S. Senator From 1932-1950
Gibbs-Thomas-Hansen House
The Gibbs-Thomas-Hansen House, built in 1895 for Gideon A. and Margaret T. Gibbs, is both historically and architecturally significant. Bought by the Thomas family in 1906, the house is the only residence associated with Elbert D. Thomas, who, as a U.S.Senator from Utah from 1932 to 1950, served notable diplomatic and military positions. Architecturally the house is significant as one of approximately a dozen documented extant examples of the residential design of Richard K.A. Kletting. Kletting is best commonly remembered for buildings such as the Deseret News Building and the Saltair Pavilion.
The Gibbs-Thomas House, built in 1895 for Gideon A. and Margaret T. Gibbs, is both historically and architecturally significant. Bought by the Thomas family in 1909, the house is the only residence associated with Elbert D. Thomas, who, as a U.S. Senator for Utah from 1932 to 1950, served several notable diplomatic and military positions. He served as chairman of the senate committees of education and labor, and, because he had resided in Japan and was familiar with the language and culture, he chaired the military affairs and foreign relations committees during WWI I. Following his years as senator he was appointed to be High Commissioner of the United States Trust Territories of the Pacific by President Harry Truman. Architecturally the house is significant as one of approximately a dozen documented extant examples of the residential design of Richard K. A. Kletting. Because Kletting is best known for his design of the Utah State Capitol, and more commonly remembered for commercial buildings such as the Deseret News Building, for institutions and schools, and for the Saltair Pavilion, he is not generally considered to. have made a major contribution to Salt Lake City residential design. However, Kletting actually began his private practice primarily designing houses, and in the 1890s,and early years of the twentieth century designed a number of significant monumental houses for prominent citizens in Salt,lake City. The Enos Wall Mansion, 411 East South Temple, and the Henry Dinwoodey House, 411 East 100 South, are two notable examples. The Gibbs-Thomas House is one of the more restrained examples of the large two and one half story mansions which Kletting designed.
On June 24, 1895 Gideon A. and Margaret Taylor Gibbs received a building permit for a “brick residence 9 rooms, etc.” on North West Temple in Salt Lake City. Gibbs, a pioneer Utah civil engineer and surveyor had married a daughter of John Taylor, third president of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Taylor’s gift of $3,800 to the couple covered the house’s estimated cost of construction.
The Gibbses commissioned Salt Lake City architect Richard K. A. Kletting to draw up plans for their house. Kletting was Utah’s most prominent architect from the late 1880s until about 1910, having designed the State Capitol, the Deseret News Building, the first Saltair Beach pavilion, and many other buildings. Residential architecture was but one facet of Kletting’s output, and the Gibbs-Thomas House survives as one of 9 to 12 documented extant examples, of houses that he designed for prominent citizens in Salt Lake City and Provo. The Gibbses may have been familiar with Kletting’s work for other socially prominent individuals such as Albert Fisher and Henry Dinwoodey, and may have wanted an equally elegant house in the fashionable neighborhood one block north of Temple Square.
Owing to financial reverses Margaret Gibbs was forced to sell the house “by Sheriff” in 1903. Very little is known about the second owner, Mrs. Martin Solomon, other than that she owned the residence for six years.
In 1909 Mrs. Solomon sold the house to Richard Kendall Thomas, a proprietor of a ladies’ clothing store on Main Street. Some time between 1910 and 1913 two additions were made to the original structure: a front porch, attributed to Salt Lake City architect Carl Scott; and a three story tier of sleeping porches on the house’s north side.
During the second generation of Thomas family ownership, the house’s most illustrious resident appeared: Elbert D. Thomas, U. S. Senator for Utah from 1932-1950. After graduating from the University of Utah and subsequently teaching at the university, Thomas received a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Thomas remained an active scholar throughout his life, authoring five books and numerous articles on a variety of subjects. After earning his doctorate, Thomas and his wife went on a Mormon mission to Japan for several years. In 1931, a year after Thomas returned from Japan, the house was left to him and a brother Roger by his widowed mother, Caroline Stockdale Thomas. Elbert subsequently assumed sole ownership of the house, which served as his only residence in Salt Lake City and the state.
Elbert Thomas was elected as a U.S. Senator from Utah in 1932, defeating Republican incumbent Reed Smoot. During Thomas 1 18 years in Washington he served as chairman of several important Senate committees, including those of education and labor. During World War II he chaired the military affairs and foreign relations committees, contributing valuable and timely expertise on Japan.
Thomas was defeated for re-election in 1950, and immediately thereafter President Truman appointed him to be High Commissioner of the United States Trust Territories of the Pacific. Three years later he died in Honolulu at the age of 69. In honor of a life of distinguished public service, U.S. Navy warships in Pearl Harbor flew their flags at half-mast for three days.
Thomas retained ownership of the house while tending to his responsibilities as senator in Washington, D. C. Some alterations of the interior were made in 1932 to convert the house into several apartments that were to be occupied by Thomas relatives. Although Thomas sold this house to his daughter, Edna Thomas Hansen, eight years before his death, he apparently continued to live here whenever his governmental duties allowed him to be in Salt Lake City. The house was reconverted into a single family dwelling in 1947 by his daughter soon after she assumed ownership. In addition, a small barn in the rear of the property was razed soon after WWII. The Gibbs-Thomas House has maintained its original integrity despite the changes that were made. It is unfortunate, however, that the West Temple street scape, which previously contained numerous large mansions from the 1880s and ’90s, having been a fashionable residential location near the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Only the Gibbs-Thomas House remains in this neighborhood to give some indication of the former elegance of the West.
Located just east of the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs, west of Parowan, Utah, this is an interesting site where you can hike around and see some dinosaur tracks.
In my exploration I often come across CCC Camps and other CCC related history. This page will be for me to link to all of the CCC related things and places I’ve documented.
The Leeds CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) Camp was constructed in 1933. The project housed ca. 250 men in buildings constructed of wood and stone. By 1950 the frame barracks had been removed. Today, only a few of the original stone structures remain.
WPA and CCC workers built a new boat harbor on Utah Lake.(*)
A small Pueblo residence cluster was constructed in Overton, Nevada on an original foundation as a CCC project during the 1930s. It is as exact a replica as governmental hands can build, and as long as you don’t climb on the fragile tops of the structures, you can crawl inside and see life from the Anasazi perspective.(*)
Three cabins were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) soon after the Valley of Fire became a state park in 1935.
Pine Valley was home base for Camp F-17 and Veyo was F-31.
In 1933, CCC personnel of Camp N.P.2 widened the Crawford Canal.(*)
The old Leamington Ward Chapel, now the Leamington Town Hall and Museum. The new Leamington Chapel is on this page.
There is a monument out in front of the building with the old bell and a couple of plaques, one with history and one with the names of the war veterans.
The history plaque says:
Leamington was first settled in 1871, the town was named by Frank Young, who immigrated from Leamington, England.
The Medallion was given to the town which came off a English Ship named Leamington.
On January 9, 1883 the Leamington L.D.S. Ward was organized with Lars Nielson as Bishop and Wm. H. Walker and Benedict P. Textorious as Counselors.
In 1886 a building was constructed by Nicholas Paul, it was used as school and church. Millard County furnished the bell which was put in the tower, it cracked the 3rd time it was rang.
On February 27, 1899 one & one fifth acres of ground was sold to Leamington Ward and the Relief Society for the sum of $30.00 by B.P. and Josephine Textorious.
In 1903 a church building began with bricks from the old smelter. The building was finished in 1910 and dedicated June 1911 by Francis M. Lyman.
The Bell then was placed in the tower of the new building and served the community each Sunday morning for many years.
In 1952 the Bell was taken down by the Leamington Boy Scout Troop No. 149. It was welded and repaired by Wm. Stanley Bradfield and reinstalled. It was in service for some time, when the church was remodeled in 1970 the bell was taken down and put into storage.
This plaque was donated and paid for by the Anderson Reunion Organization.
The monument originator and White Stone donated by Wm. Stanley Bradfield. A new chapel was built in 1986 at another location. The City of Leamington purchased this Historic Building ad Amusement Hall, with four acres of land and two shares of water.
