John Murray Murdoch & Ann Steele Home
1880

John Murray Murdoch was born in Scotland, he began herding sheep at the young age of 11. In December 1851, responding to the call for skilled sheep herders in Utah, John, his wife Ann Steele, and their two children embarked from Scotland to Liverpool by steamship, then across the Atlantic. Tragically, the family endured profound loss, as both their daughter Elizabeth and son James died during the voyage. Despite this heartbreak, John and Ann pressed forward, arriving in the Provo Valley (now Heber) in the spring of 1860 and made their home within the Heber Fort. John was known for his honesty, industriousness, and devotion to his family. A high priest for 48 years, he was a man of unwavering faith and strength, even in the face of affliction and poverty. He fathered 22 children and saw his legacy grow to include 101 grandchildren and 65 great-grandchildren.

Part of the Historic Home Tour and located at 261 North 400 West in Heber City, Utah, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#80003985) on February 28, 1980.

John Murdoch’s home is significant as a symbol of the economic and social evolution of a Utah Mormon sheep rancher whose family moved from a dugout, to a log home, to this fine Victorian residence. The use of materials signify an intention by Murdoch to appear even more affluent than he had already become. The interesting allusion to stone created by the scored pine siding is a “dishonest” use of materials (as is the interior hand-grained woodwork) fully acceptable before the twentieth century. A contemporary showplace, the home was intended to be pretentious as evidenced by the awareness of current architectural trends in the design, in the size and scale of the home, and in the illusionistic use of materials.

John Murdoch had emigrated from Scotland in 1852, his passage paid by Brigham Young who had given instructions to an agent in Great Britain to secure “2 Scotch shepherds” for his estates. Murdoch’s involvement in the early woolen industry in Utah is discussed in The Peoples of Utah. After striking out on his own as a farmer in the Heber Valley, Murdoch grew quickly in financial status and rapidly became an important figure in local politics and government.

In 1880, John Murdoch built a substantial 1 1/2 story frame and adobe home in Heber City, Utah to replace the log and dugout home his family had occupied there since 1860.

The home is an asymmetrical, cross plan structure. Steep cross gables, the symmetrical main facade and hipped roof front porch with turned supports contribute to the Gothic Revival allusions.

Built on a fieldsone foundation, the home was constructed of frame with pine siding scored vertically every eighteen inches to give the appearance of stone. Adobe insulates the walls.

Exterior ornament includes a wide moulded cornice with gable end returns turned porch support, and moulded window sills and pedimental headers of a Classical flavor for the two over two double hung windows. The front door contains an oval light which is surrounded by carved floral motifs. Shutters are a later addition, as is the stone facing on the front porch floor. A picket fence of a fine milled motif marks the front yard boundary.

A rear, hipped porch, identical to the front porch configuration wraps around the back. A laundry room/bathroom encloses part of one side porch, though the siding has been made to match the original scored pine.

The interior arrangement on the first floor is a hall (dining room) and parlor with cental hall, and a rear kitchen. Upstairs are four bedrooms, one of which (in the south) has been divided to accommodate a second bathroom. Also upstairs is the secret space built into the home (ca post 1890) as a hiding place in the event of a polygamy raid.

Fine hand-graining is extant in the dining room and parlor on the first floor. Originally it had existed throughout the first floor rooms.

The present owners, Raiford and Camille French, are involved in a restoration of the home, intending to preserve the original character as much as possible