The William V. Helfrich / Patrick Healy Sr. Home
This home was built by William V. Helfrich in 1891 in the architectural style of Victorian Eclectic with Queen Anne shingling and tower. The architect is unknown. The house has irregular massing and cross gables with a stone foundation. A two-story addition to the north rear corner was made within 10 years of construction. Major alterations included a two-story frame enclosure of the front porch, an addition to the south rear corner, two sheet metal roofed basement entrances on the façade and north side, as well as a wood fire escape at the rear. An earlier porch had a brick railing wall with neoclassical posts. Many additions and alterations were removed in 2010 restoring the integrity of the original home.
William V. Helfrich was employed as a cashier for Citizens Bank. He and his wife Agnes were residents of the property until 1896. Patrick Healy Sr. acquired the property in 1897. Mr. Healy immigrated from Ireland in 1862 arriving in New York eventually settling in Utah in 1868 and marrying Mary Ann Patterson. He obtained employment with the Southern Pacific Railroad and on the 10th of May 1869, he witnessed the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory, Utah. He retired from the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. as a locomotive engineer.
Later in life Mr. Healy attained prominence in Ogden financial and business circles. He became Vice President of Commercial National Bank (later known as Commercial Security Bank, now Key Bank) in 1905 and served as President from 1910 until his death in 1918. Mr. Healy had large holdings in the sugar industry in Utah and served as President of Murphy Wholesale Grocery Co. He was responsible for the construction of the Healy Hotel building at 100 25th Street in 1901 and was proprietor from 1913-1918. Mrs. Healy was prominent in social and civic affairs of Ogden and continued living in the home until her death in 1934.
W. Karl Hopkins and his wife Lodica Seely lived in the home after 1935. Mr. Hopkins moved to Ogden in 1919 to accept the position of super-intendent of Ogden City Schools until his retirement in 1948. During his tenure he considered the construction of the (million-dollar) Ogden High School his most outstanding achievement.
Ownership of the home was passed down to the Hopkins children until 1958, when it was converted into the Mietchen Manor Boarding House, operated by Jerome C. Mietchen, who at the time was employed as a sheet-metal worker at Hill Air Force Base. It existed as a multi-unit residence until 2009 when it was purchased and restored as single-family home by Alan and Cindy Toone.
The Patrick & Mary Ann Healy home was built in 1891 and is located at 2529 Jefferson Avenue in the Jefferson Avenue Historic District and in Ogden’s Central Bench Historic District in Ogden, Utah.
In 1900, the Ogden Standard featured this home calling it a “handsome residence…in one of the shadiest & prettiest parts of the city.”
- mentioned in Jefferson Avenue Historic District:
Patrick Healy (2529 Jefferson) was a vice-president of Commercial National Bank.
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Patrick Healy (2529 Jefferson) built the Healy Hotel located on the corner of Wall Avenue and Ogden’s popular 25th Street, which was directly across from the Union Station, the hub of railroad activity in Ogden.
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Seven (17.5%) of the buildings that were built during the period of significance have been significantly altered. These include two houses (2529 and 2547 Jefferson) that had been modified with additions to the front of the buildings that obscure the historic fabric. The remaining five buildings have been so significantly altered, that the original stylistic features have been either completely removed, or covered over to the extent that the building no longer resembles its original style.
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Jefferson Avenue could be considered one of the first “waves” of building that steadily progressed east from the heart of the city. As the aesthetic tastes of affluent citizens changed, so did the location of their homes. The Eccles Avenue Historic District, located several blocks east, is a perfect example of the changing tastes of the aristocracy. Houses there were built between 1909 and 1920 with a majority being Prairie Style. It was not the property owners of the Jefferson District that lived in the Eccles District, but rather their sons and daughters. For example, Patrick Healy and his wife Mary Ann, lived at 2529 Jefferson. Healy, a prominent member of Ogden’s business and financial circles, built and operated the Healy Hotel, a very prosperous hotel located across the street from the Union Station. Their son, Patrick Healy Jr., and his wife Mary Sodwick Healy, built a home on the corner of 26th and Eccles Avenue (Eccles Avenue Historic District) in 1920.
