Ayres/McClain & Ayres/Jacobs Houses
1264 E. and 1268 E. South Temple
1901, Walter E. Ware, SLC

Many prosperous Salt Lake City businessmen and professionals built homes on South Temple hoping to share in the prestige of their fabulously wealthy neighbors. The twin houses built by Harry Ayres are representative of the upper-middle class homes constructed on the east end of South Temple at the same time the great mansions were built farther west on the street.

Harry Ayres was the manager of the Colorado Ironworks Company. He appears to have built these houses as an investment opportunity. He sold the house at 1268 East to Eldro and Ida Jacobs shortly after its completion. Eldro Jacobs was the treasurer of the Stockton Gold M & M Company.

The Ayres lived in the house at 1264 East for just one year before selling it to John and Ida McClain in 1903. McClain worked for the Burton Lumber Company from 1900 to 1932 and eventually became its president.

The masonry work on the Ayres Houses adds interest and texture to their facades. The most prominent masonry features of the houses are the corbeled brick panels surrounding two ornamental windows. Also note the beltcourse of projecting bricks and rock-faced, or rough cut, stone separating the first and second stories. The foundation and window heads and sills are also made of rock-faced stone.
(from Preservation Utah’s walking tour)

Located at 1268 East South Temple in the South Temple Historic District in Salt Lake City, Utah.