Constructed of brick in 1876 by Simon Peter Eggertsen, a Danish immigrant and handcart pioneer to Utah in 1857. The home remained in the Eggertsen family until 1945.
Built in 1876, The Simon P. Eggertsen, Sr., Home is a two-and-a-half story brick house. The home still contains the original living room, central hall and stairway, parlor, and dining room. Since the home was first built, a kitchen and a bathroom are also included on the main floor. Three bedrooms and a bathroom, as well as two bedrooms in the attic, make up the second floor. The unfinished cellar serves as a storage unit. The inside of the home is still in great condition. “Its walnut bannisters and spindles, oak-grained woodwork and marble-grained plaster in the halls are extant, as are the fireplaces, casings, base and doors. The original room configurations and tall ceilings are also intact.”
Simon Peter Eggertsen, Sr., was born in Vestr, Skevhuset, Odense County, Fyen (a Danish island), on February 7, 1826. Simon served in the army of Denmark from the year 1848 to 1850, and during that time attained the rank of a sergeant. In 1853 Eggertsen joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and served as a Danish missionary until he migrated to America four years later.
Once in America, Eggertsen, along with a group of twenty four other people, traveled across 1300 miles through the Great Basin, and into Salt Lake City, arriving September 13, 1857. The following year Eggertsen married a woman named Johanne Thomson. Once Simon and his family had settled in Provo, he traded his vest and coat for the property for his future home. The Eggertsen family lived in a one-room log house for 17 years before building the Simon Peter Eggertsen Sr. House. Eggertsen took the money he had earned through his hard work as a farmer, and spent it to send his children to Brigham Young Academy (now university), and used the leftover funds to build his new home. Eggertsen, speaking of the cost of the home, said “It took 50,000 bricks to build it. The (bricks) costed me 310 dollars. The carpenter work 1,000 dollars. In the spring we moved in and felt very grateful for our blessings (Call p. 1).” The home was built by Eggertsen and some of his friends that were Danish.
After the construction of the home, Simon Peter Eggertsen served another two years in Denmark as a missionary, and supported a large family. His son – Simon Jr., owned the West Co-op and served as an educator within the county for over fifty years. The home remained in the family until 1945, after which the home belonged to Mr. And Mrs. Craig M. Call.
Thomas N. Taylor’s home at 342 North 500 West in Provo is quite the site, it is listed on the National register of historic places and known now as the White Willow Reception Center.
“Built in 1904, the Thomas N. Taylor house exemplifies the “dream home” of many in Utah’s second generation. This house is significant as the most outstanding and well-preserved example of the Classical Box style in Provo. The box style was used extensively in Salt Lake City but was not common in Provo. Its classical detailing, irregular massing and unaltered condition make it particularly distinctive among the limited number of Provo examples of this type. Thomas N. Taylor was a popular man in the area. He served as manager of the Taylor Brothers Store, Provo mayor, and President of the Utah Stake of the LDS Church (Historic Provo p. 9).” The Thomas Taylor House was designated to the Provo City Landmarks register as of July 28, 1995.
The original section was constructed C. 1854 by Edward Clark, a Mormon convert from England who came to Utah in 1852. He was Bishop of the Provo Third Ward and President of the Utah County Branch of the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society.
In 1863 John H. Carter made a side and second story addition. The home was owned by several individuals until 1898 when it was purchased by Thomas N. Taylor, one of Utah County’s most prominent citizens. T.N. Taylor was Mayor, Bishop, Stake President, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Brigham Young University and Democratic Candidate for Governor in 1920. The home remained in the Taylor Family since 1898.
Located at 388 West 300 North in Provo is the Charles E. Davies House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Charles Davies House was built about 1885. “The house, a double-gable H-plan type, is the only example of the H-plan in Provo and its distinctive Victorian bay windows make it one of the best examples of such houses in the state (Historic Provo p. 8).” The Charles E. Davies House was designated to the Provo City Historic Landmarks Registry on March 7, 1996.
Built in the double-gable H-plan style, this home is very representative of the average home in this area during the period in which it was built. There are several windows on the front facade of the house. The two windows closest to the small porch in the front are relatively simple and slim, while the two double-hung sash windows on the front facade have a more elegant appearance and are each enhanced by a relieving arch hovering over them, complete with raised extrados. The front door used to be aligned under the porch, but has subsequently been bricked in. The west wall is adjacent to a gable.
Born in the country of Wales in 1859, Davies was a farmer by profession, and after he converted to the LDS Church he immigrated to the United States. Settling down in Provo, Utah, he married Rachel E. Davis in Salt Lake City.
The Charles E. Davies house, built in Provo in about 1885, is a significant example of late-nineteenth-century vernacular architecture in Utah. The house, a double-gable H-plan type, is one of thirty-four significant sites identified during an intensive survey of Provo in the summer of 1980. The Davies house, one of a number of domestic architectural forms available to Provo residents during the late 1800’s, is at once typical and exceptional. In size, scale, and appointments, the home is generally representative of the average homes being constructed here during this period. At the same time, although the double-gable H-plan type is found in other Utah communities, its relative scarcity makes it an uncommon architectural feature in Utah. The Davies house is the only example of the H-plan in Provo and its distinctive Victorian bay windows make it one of the best such houses in the state.
The double-gable H-plan house is a late-nineteenth-century transformation of the Greek Revival inspired “temple-form” house type (see figure 1). During the early 1800’s, a resurgence of interest among architects in the monumental buildings of classical Greece led to the introduction and eventual acceptance of a house form which imitated the Hellenic temples. This house had its main facade located on the narrow, gable-end rather than on the wider, broad side as was the usual practice during the eighteenth century. In its original configuration, the main entrance was located on the gable-end of the house behind a colossal temple front. Side wings were also often present. As the house entered the builders’ vernacular of the early nineteenth century, the pretentious pedimented porticos were usually discarded. In this scaled-down and simplified version, the temple-form house became a popular farmhouse on the New England frontier.
As settlers pushed into the upper Midwest, the temple-form house was increasingly seen with the main entrance moved form the central, gable facade to one of the side wings. This change is recorded from mid-century, and the resulting form has been variously called the “modified temple-form,” “T-plan,” or “upright and wing” house. Both the temple-form house and its modified relative (modified temple-form) were carried to Utah after 1847 by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons. These gable facade buildings constitute one of the major domestic architectural forms in the state.
One logical variation of the modified temple form house can be found in the placing of a second forward-facing gable to the end of the side wing. Repeating the gable makes the house symmetrical and effectively closes up a visually incomplete and open design. Such houses are found in many Utah communities, attesting to the popularity of the type. They are greatly outnumbered by their “T-plan” cousins, and must be considered a rare architectural type. Such houses are often called “H-plan” house by local architectural historians. Such an alphabet designation, however, should not obscure the houses historical and design relationship to the old temple-form plan.
Charles E. Davies, the original owner of this house, was born in South Wales in 1859 and later immigrated to the United States after joining the LDS Church. He eventually settled in Provo and married Rachel E. Davis in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. By trade Davies was a farmer.
The vernacular H-plan house was constructed in about 1885, and David L. Van Wagenen, a prominent local merchant, bought the house in 1907. He owned and operated the D. L. Van Wagenen Mercantile Company in Provo for many years. Van Wagenen apparently sold the house in 1912 but continued to live there until 1922. The house has since been used as rental property, as the owners of the house have not been listed as living in the house. In 1912 Van Wagenen sold the house to Eliza Smith Stewart who in turn sold it to Thomas Callister in 1918. Callister sold it to Georgianna Parry in 1920 and she sold the house to Clyde Bunnell in 1923. The house was owned by the Bunnells until 1929 when the property was conveyed to Ray Barrett. In 1945 the house was sold to Madeline Hales who sold it the same year to Arthur S. Roberts. Roberts deeded the house to Clark S. Nelson in 1950. It remained in the Nelson family until 1956 when it was sold to Dr. Orlo Alien. Alien sold the house to Howard L. Jensen in 1960 and Jensen sold it to Louis B. Jones the same year.
The Charles E. Davies house in Provo is a one-story brick house which has a distinctive double-gable facade. The house consists of two parallel rectangular units separated by a smaller square unit on the inside. The gabled ridge of the internal unit runs perpendicular to the roof lines on the outside rectangles. Viewed from above, the house plan resembles the letter “H,” and it is not surprising that such houses here have come to be called “H-plan” houses. The house type is actually a rather uncommon variant of a popular vernacular type, the gable-facade “temple-form” house. The double-gabled H-plan house is, then, one of a number of nineteenth-century vernacular types which were present in most Utah towns. As such, the Davies house is typical of the architecture of the period.
Each of the gable ends of the “H” contains a rectangular bay capped with a truncated hip roof which is pierced by a gable. On the three sides of the bay are double-hung sash windows, narrow ones on the sides and a pair of standard size windows separated by decorative mull ions on the facade. All the windows of the house with the exception of two later additions in the rear have a decorative arch over them with jigsaw cut ornament and are capped with a segmented relieving arch which has raised extrados and a pair of centered bricks that resemble a keystone. Most of the windows are the two-over-two double-hung sash type. The main door was originally centered under the porch which spans the bar of the “H”, but it has been bricked in. The two windows that flanked that door are still intact. The two doors that open onto the porch from the gable ends are long and narrow, and have oval transoms. The west wall, the broad side of one of the legs of the “H”, is pierced by a gable. Under the gable is centered a door flanked by two windows. The door has a square glass panel with carved wood trim around it, and may be original. Other major alterations are evident only at the rear of the house. The two additions in the rear between the legs of the “H”, one of which may be original, and the changes in the fenestration of that section do not, however, detract significantly from the original integrity of the building.
Located at 174 North 100 East in Provo is the Historic Harvey H. Cluff House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Harvey Cluff House was built in 1877 by John Watkins of Midway, Utah, a noted architect and builder of that era and friend of Cluff. Inspired by the Greek Revival movement of the early 1800s, this type of architecture is often called a “temple-form” house because early examples had a colossal temple front. The Harvey H. Cluff House was designated to the Provo City Historic Landmarks Registry on May 22, 1996.
The temple form is often referred to as being part of Greek revival architecture, however when it expanded to Utah it had some Gothic Revival attributes. Features of gothic architecture included in this form as apparent in Utah are: A steeper pitch to the roof, wall dormers, finials, bargeboards, and frame bay windows. There have been approximately six Gothic temple-form houses recorded in Utah, and this home stands as a historical representative of this style.
Born in 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio, Harvey H. Cluff and his family settled in Provo, Utah in the year 1850. In the late 1850s, Cluff and his brothers built a furniture factory. Later, due to the experience he had gained at the factory, he was charged to be superintendent of the construction of important historical buildings such as the Provo Tabernacle and the Academy Building of Brigham Young Academy. Cluff also had the opportunity to serve as president of the company which published the local newspaper, The Enquirer, to serve as a director of the First National Bank in Provo, and to serve as President of the Provo Foundry and Machine Company. Also highly participatory in community affairs, Harvey H. Cluff served in the city council. An important leader within the Mormon faith, he held numerous leadership responsibilities, such as a counselor in the Utah Stake Presidency, the bishop of the Provo Fourth Ward, and a mission president of the Sandwich Islands. Cluff relocated to Salt Lake City in about 1915, after which he sold his home to a man by the name of W. Ray Ashworth, a carpenter. The Ashworth family retained the home until 1974, when the title passed to Willard C. Nelson.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Located at 284 East 100 North in Provo is the George M. Brown House, it was built as a home for a “polygamous wife” of lawyer George M. Brown. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The George M. Brown House was built in the 1880s, on property obtained from Abraham O. Smoot. This is a two-story, central-hall, vernacular type house. “The Brown House exhibits the versatility and decorative jigsaw work usually found in the Gothic Revival, but displays the horizontal siding, simulated quoins, and symmetry of the local building tradition.” The George M. Brown House was designated to the Provo Historic Landmarks Registry on March 21, 1996.
Though built during the Victorian era, the George M. Brown House is a distinguished example of carpenter Gothic architecture. Containing thin wooden tracery, a monochromatic color scheme, and steep gables as well as other features, the Gothic style is very evident in this home. The Carpenter Gothic style emerged as builders became more concerned with costs, namely the cost of stone. “The Brown home attempts to combine the best of two generations with its asymmetrical Victorian east elevation and its symmetrical, dormered north elevation which contains nearly all the elements of typical pioneer homes of the mid-1870s (Roberts p. 2).” Decorative elements on the home include bargeboards, Quoins, a bay window, chimneys, window trim, door trim, dormers, a cornice, siding, and windows.
Born on April 5, 1842, in Macedonia, Illinois, George Mortimer Brown settled in Utah with his family in 1842. A member of the Mormon faith, George served a mission to Norway in 1866, the same year he began his marriage to Elizabeth Olsen. After his mission, George became an attorney. In addition to Elizabeth, George married two more women – Amelia West and Pearl Wilson.Shortly after the initial construction of the home, Brown’s first wife attained the title to it, and Brown and his two other wives and children left and settled in Colonia Diaz, a Mormon settlement in Mexico. He ran a store there until he died on July 6, 1894.
261 East 100 North
Status: Provo City Landmarks Register
After Mayor Abraham O. Smoot divided the lots in 1872, this parcel was purchased by Ephraim’s father, Isaac Sutton. Isaac deeded the lot to his oldest son, who then built the house in 1897. Isaac and Emma Sutton were early Mormon pioneers sent by Brigham Young to help settle Provo. Ephraim built a home very typical of what was popular in turn-of-the-century Provo. The home is Victorian-Eclectic, featuring neoclassical details on the front porch, heavy drip hoods of rusticated brick above the windows and doors, and segmental arch openings. Other artistically-noticeable details include the transom window above the front entrance with rusticated drip head, a half-round window above the porch, sitting in a small gablet, and gabled windows on the front and west facades.
Located at 287 East 100 North in Provo, the John R. Twelves House is a historic house listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This home was built in 1906 by John R. Twelves. John R. Twelves was a central figure in Utah’s history, being involved in the Grand Central Mining Company and serving as Utah County’s treasurer and recorder. The John R. Twelves House was designated to the Provo City Historic Landmarks Registry on April 26, 1996.
Since 2005 the Twelves House was the home of independent filmmaker Richard Dutcher’s Main Street Movie Company, a motion picture production and distribution company. I remember there was a 9 foot marble sculpture of Jesus, which dominated the front lawn, it was a prop which plays prominently in Dutcher’s film FALLING.
Located at 489 West 100 South in Provo, The George Angus and Martha Ansil Beebe House is a historic house listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Constructed C. 1902 by the owner, Angus G. Beebe, this one-story brick house is a well-preserved example of an early twentieth century house pattern book design.
The Beebe House is a restrained example of the small, pattern-book house of the Victorian era. A comprehensive survey of the city of Provo concluded that it is one of the best of only a few remaining examples of this type. With its arrangement of square corner tower, gables and corner porches, it is the more sophisticated of only two pattern book houses in the city with an entry vestibule in the corner tower. While few houses in Utah are exact copies of the most widely published pattern books, the influence of suck books is shown in the sparse ornamentation and irregular plan of residences like the Beebe House.
The house was built for Angus G. Beebe, son of a flour-milling family, who was himself employed as bookkeeper of the Provo Roller Mills managed by his brother David R. Miller. Angus later became a found of the Beebe Lumber Company. The style and substance of the home, probably loosely copied from a pattern book bought by mail by the owner or builder, suggests the aspirations to fashion of many second-generation Provo residents. Of interest in the interior is the interior woodwork. The oak hardwood flooring is also intact.