When first constructed in 1906, the New York Hotel provided luxurious accommodations for travelers. The building offered steam heat and electric lights in every room while advertisements assured all guests of excellent service.
The hotel features an attractive entrance canopy supported by cast iron columns on high sandstone bases. Also note the curvilinear gable where the building’s name appears in large block letters. In the mid-1970s, the New York Hotel was renovated to house restaurants and office space. The pioneering project was one of the first in Salt Lake City to adapt an historic building for a new use. Its success brought new life to an historic building and a declining area of downtown.
The Hotel Albert is significant because as one of a number of hotels built in SLC’s business district about 1910, it reflects the impact of the railroad on the city. It is also significant because of its architectural integrity.
This four-story brick hotel and store was built for Albert Fisher in 1909 at an estimated cost of $100,000. The hotel operated as the Albert Hotel until 1912 when it became the Hotel Shelton. It remained the Shelton through the mid-1920’s; by the mid-1930’s it was the Whitehouse Hotel and accommodated Ruths beauty parlor as well. By the mid-1940’s the Reid Hotel and the Capri Italian Restaurant occupied the building.
Fisher was born in Germany in 1852. Then emigrated to Utah in the early 1870’s according to his brief obituary. Nevertheless he does not appear in a Salt Lake directory until 1883 as a foreman for the Salt Lake Brewing Company. In 1884 he established his own brewery. He later established himself in real estate and other local businesses. He died in 1917. The brewery was sold to Lucky Lager Brewing Co., now General Brewing Co., in 1957. He married Alma Youngberg January 29, 1882. She was born at Malmo, Sweden, May 17, 1861 to Andrew S. and Olivia Youngberg. She was in active businesswoman, owner of Alma Fisher Property and “well-known in club circles.” She died in 1940.
This photo below shows the location where the hotel previously stood:
2020
Architecturally, the Hotel Albert is a three-story brick structure with a stone facade and metal cornice. Its style is most closely related to the Second Renaissance Revival period. The deep relief of the masonry joints, shaping of the stonework in voussoirs and interlocking pieces, the proportions of the window bays (which decrease in size as they appear higher in the facade), and classical capital and cornice details reflect Renaissance influences. The Hotel Albert has been restored in a tasteful manner, including a contemporary but skillful treatment of the fenestration in the south wall. The building’s metal cornices, hanging canopy and carved stonework are particularly interesting.
Built in 1910, the Marion Hotel is a three-story brick “E” or double hotel court, a hotel type with a continuous main level typically reserved for commercial or common hotel functions and two open light courts above, resulting in three wings of hotel rooms. Also known historically as the Milner Hotel, it is modestly suggestive of early Prairie School architectural style, although it has a traditionally bracketed sheet metal cornice and frieze. The building retains a high degree of historic materials, features, and configuration on both the interior and exterior. All elevations maintain their architectural integrity.
This building has functioned continuously for over 80 years as a hotel and SRO (single room occupancy hotel) with a variety of commercial ventures on the main level. It has played a steady role in the history of lower 25th Street in the twentieth century. Both architecturally and historically, the Marion Hotel contributes to the continuity and integrity of the Lower 25th Street Historic District.
The Marion Hotel, built in 1910, is the largest remaining hotel in the lower 25th Street Historic District. As part of the District, the hotel was placed on the National Register in 1976 and on the Local Register in 1981. Several of the original commercial businesses within the Marion Hotel included G.F. Vaught Jewelry, Ward Company Bakery, the F.L. Bradley Pool Hall and the Union Cigar Stores Company.
Many of the character defining features of the first floor include the fenestration of the storefronts with large display windows, expressive brick kick plates, recessed doorways, transom windows, and brick columns with a horizontal bar above the transom.
The second and third stories had double-hung windows with sandstone sills. There is some brick banding between the sections of the building. The cornice protrudes away from the building with unique spouts.
The renovation and conversion of the Marion Hotel into single room occupancy dwelling units began in May of 1992 and was completed in October 1993 by the new owner, Kier Corporation and T.K. of Lynns.
The slylight in the main lobby that has stained glass on the interior ceiling line was retained, restored and replaced. The original storefront signage has been repaired, cleaned and reinstalled. The interior bays remain intact as well. Renovations included upgrading and replacing the electrical wiring and plumbing through the building, and a complete seismic retrofit.
As the largest remaining hotel on lower 25th Street, the Marion Hotel building continues to provide lodging after an extensive refurbishment was completed in 2015. Today, it consists of 86 single-occupancy apartment units toward the goal of ending chronic homelessness in Utah. The main level along 25th Street offers commercial space for retail businesses, and on Lincoln Avenue there is space for nonprofit entities, both which contribute to the economic vibrancy of downtown.
The 2015 renovation was a second-generation effort after Jim and Norma Kier originally retrofitted and opened the property to low-income residents under a Federal housing program in 1993. On June 1, 2015 Kier daughters Bonnie Kier-Herrick and Kimi Kier-Noar brought together the investors and government assistance needed to purchase and add future decades of service to the building. In addition to a complete rehab of each unit, other amenities were added for resident use including: individual tenant storage and bike storage, an elevator, computer room, TV/game room, and community room. The exterior of the building was refurbished with replacement of windows, doors, painting, brick cleaning and new awnings, all in accordance with Federal and State Historical Societies and Ogden City’s Landmark Commission.
Upon re-opening, the name changed to the Sean Herrick Apartments to honor the late stepson of Bonnie Kier-Herrick, her husband Steve (father) and Cherie Herrick (mother). Sean Herrick grew up in the Ogden area and loved to serve Thanksgiving dinner each year to the residents here, an event hosted by the Kier family. Sean lived a short life but his story – as told on a memorial wall inside the building – is an inspiration to friends, family and the property’s residents.
A project of this magnitude must acknowledge many partners: Inbestor Goldman Sachs, the Utah Housing Corporation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ogden City including the Landmarks Commission, Federal and State Historical Societies, Joseph M. Queenan, Kier Development, LLC, Kier Girls, LLC, Kier Construction, Kier Property Management and the compassionate vision origionally set forth by Jim and Norma Kier.
George Heiner stated, “In 1890, my brother Daniel and I built a three story brick hotel…”
Charles Turner recorded in his journal, “1890, this year I have sold to the Heiner Company over One-thousand dollars worth of brick, line and rock for their new hotel.”
Thomas C. West from Round Valley plastered the interior of the hotel.
The hotel flourished and contributed to the economic growth and development of the community. It provided rest and comfort to many weary travelers.
Emma Staples Stuart, a renowned cook, operated the hotel for approxximately 20 years. During that time she hired many local young women to help.
Moroni and Harriet Clawson bought the hotel in 1912. The theater with a stage provided an excellent place for silent movies.
In May 1917 Clawson applied for a picture show license. Milton Fry ran the hand-operated movie projector.
In 1935 the hotel was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Stewart. The theater was modernized with comfortable air-inflated seats, and a modern sound system.
In 1937 Mabel Horsefield Welsh and Viola Porter Whitesides were contestants to rename the hotel. They submitted the name “Vallis” which means “Valley” and the name has remained until the present day.
Alva and Cecil Dearden leased the Vallis Theater in 1945 and showed movie pictures there until 1949.
The old Broadway Hotel (built in 1911) at Broadway and Date in Tooele, Utah (145 N Broadway Ave) stands majestic and abandoned for now, there has been talk over the years of restoring it but nothing happening yet. I love the big cool looking building.
With much of the city, much of the world shut down to help stop the spread of COVID-19 it is nice to see little happy things like this – several big hotels in downtown Salt Lake City have strategically turned on certain room lights at night to create a heart.
According to the property’s title history, Mary Jane George formally received the property in 1901 from James Gardner, although the George family had occupied the building in c. 1887 and had turned part of the dwelling into a hotel c. 1900. The upstairs of the building was left unfinished until it became a hotel at that time; the open second-story of the home was used until then as a dance floor and a space for LDS church activities until the church meetinghouse across the street was constructed. 6 Indeed, oftentimes during the late-1800s, local residences were used for church activities and other social functions in small communities in Utah prior to meetinghouses being constructed.
The property has been passed through the hands of several George family members since the original deed in 1901. Mary Jane George was listed as a hotelkeeper in the 1900 Kanosh census and husband William George was listed as the hotelkeeper in the 1900 Utah State Gazetteer; this was the first year that the George Hotel was listed. During the hotel’s operation (c. 1900 to c. 1920), being one of the very few hotels in the area, it was used largely by stagecoach passengers, tourists, hunters, businessmen, and others traveling to and from the Salt Lake City area.
The George family was part of the migration from Petersburg in 1875. They had resided in Petersburg since the 1860s, where they ran a hotel and dining establishment out of their house (setting precedence for the George Hotel in Kanosh). William George, shortly after arriving in Kanosh, became involved with the Kanosh Naduald Cooperative, operated by Albert Naduald. In 1884, William George purchased the co-op from the Naduald’s and other town members.
In 1911, shortly after the passing of her husband William George (William and Mary were married in 1868), Mary Jane George deeded the land to half-brother George A. George; where George, wife Mariah, and their eleven children resided in the building and ran the hotel. George worked as a stockman, farmer and financier; he was also one of the first directors of the State Bank of Millard County. George and Mariah’s daughter, Elizabeth George, was listed in the 1920 census as a hotelkeeper, the last year that the George Hotel was listed in the gazetteer. After 1920, the building was used solely as a residence for the large George family. In 1935, George A. George, deeded the land to Elizabeth. Elizabeth George then deeded the land to her brother Revell George in 1954, who two years later deeded the eastern half of his property to his son Van George. Part of the property left the hands of the George Family for a while, when in 1971 Revell George deeded acreage to Boyd Watts. The Watts family turned the land back over to the Georges in 1990. The entire property is currently owned by J.W. Vande Merwe, who obtained the land and vacant hotel in 2002 and is in the process of preserving and restoring the building to its early-twentieth century appearance.
The George Hotel, constructed c.1887, and located Kanosh, Millard County, Utah, is a one-and-one-half-story T-shaped crosswing-type dwelling, constructed of random sandstone ashlar masonry. The building exhibits a combination of Classical, Gothic Revival, and Victorian Eclectic stylistic traits, with the dominant theme being Gothic Revivalism. The primary section of the house faces west onto Main Street and has a secondary wing centrally placed at the rear. The corner property contains only a few deciduous trees and is mainly open with lawn surrounding the house and fenced-in open field to the north and east. There are two contributing outbuildings remaining on the property behind the dwelling. Located north to George Hotel is the Kanosh Tithing Office (National Register listed in 1985), and across the street to the west are some early-twentieth century commercial buildings.
The principal facade of the George Hotel faces west and is symmetrically arranged in a bilateral, tripartite scheme, typical of the classicism of early Utah territorial settlement. The centrally placed main entrance features two arched 2/3-length windows below which are two square panels. The doorway is surrounded on the two sides and top by window panels below which are wood panels historically faux-grained to look like hardwood. The center panel above the door is comprised of stained glass spelling out “George Hotel;” this appears to be a nonhistoric replacement. The heavy, flat stone header is partially covered by a decorative segmental wooden arch. The door is flanked on either side by two semi-octagonal bay windows with coupled two-over-two windows on the front and single two-over-two windows on the diagonally placed sides. The foundation walls of the bay windows are made of stone, matching that of the exterior walls of the house.
The second-story fenestration mirrors that of the main story, but is much simpler. The door is similar to that on the main level. The doorway on this level appears to have accessed the roof of a porch that once covered the primary entrance, but has since been removed. The two flanking windows are two-over-two double-hung wooden sash units with heavy flat wood lintels and thinner wood sills. These openings extend up into gabled dormers, the central one being larger that the other two. The dentillated cornice is incorporated into the gables, which do not have sidewalls.
The south facade reveals the rear T wing, which is also bilaterally symmetrical, although it only features two dormers in a bipartite scheme. The gabled dormers are incorporated into the cornice line of the roof trim, similar to the front fa9ade. The centrally placed entrance is flanked on either side by double-hung, two-overtwo windows. Similar windows are located directly above these on the second floor. All the fenestration on this and the other facades feature heavy flat stone headers. The south gable end of the front section of the house has four window openings, two equally spaced on each level, which are all two-over-two, double hung wood sash. Also visible on this portion at the apex of the roof is a brick chimney with corbelled brickwork.
The east (rear) facade features the gable end of the T wing, which has a single window on each level, one directly above the other, located to the right of the gable end. A brick chimney, similar to the two on either side of the front section projects from the ridgeline at the east end. The rear wall of the front portion is visible from this side and has no fenestration. Attached to the north side of the wing is a wood-frame shed-roof addition that connects to the rear of the front section of the house as well. This has been re-sided with plywood and the roofing replaced with standing seam metal. There is a single window in the east elevation of the addition.
The north elevation is the most visually simple. The wood-frame addition has a door located in the center with a single window to the right of the door. The gable end of the front section of the house on this facade has only two windows, one on each floor, both left of center, although not directly lined up. These are similar to all the other windows. There is also a brick chimney similar to the other two located at the ridgeline of the roof.
The interior is virtually intact historically. The main level in the front portion of the house is arranged in typical central-passage fashion. The center hall contains the staircase to the second level that runs front-to-rear. Running along the right side of the stairs is the passage leading back through a doorway to the kitchen area in the rear wing. A closet is situated under the stairs and the paneling and balustrade of the staircase is elaborately painted with faux oak and walnut graining, which is in very good condition. A single room is located on either side of the hall; both are similar in appearance, although the room to the north side has a doorway leading into a bathroom in the frame addition. The rear wing has the kitchen area as well as a pantry and bathroom at the east end of the wing. All of the woodwork on this level is in original condition and is being retained, and that which has been damaged is being restored. All the door, window, and baseboard molding is done in Eastlake fashion. Although much of it is painted, the details, such as the patera, are all faux grained to appear as hardwood. All the doors are also faux grained in elaborate patterns, with panels and framing done in contrasted grains and colors.
The second story appears to have been expediently finished around the turn of the twentieth century. The layout reveals its use as a hotel, with several small rooms spartanly finished; prior to c. 1900 it was open and sometimes used as a dance floor for local dances before the Mormon meetinghouse was finished in 1894. The framing studs are visible in portions of the walls, and the primary wall sheathing over the framework is bead board. Until recently there is no ceiling and all the rough-sawn roof trusses were visible. It is probable that muslin was the only ceiling material since there are remnants apparent. Drywall ceilings have recently been installed. There are six rooms on the upper level, although it appears that at least one wall was removed at an unknown time. At the landing at the top of the stairway, one faces a wall to the east that has an interior window.
This opened into a long narrow room along the north side of the rear wing. It is likely that this was where guests would check their baggage when they stayed here. In the short hallway to the left of the stair landing is the entrance to one of the rooms located at the north end of the main section of the house. This room has a deep interior wall cavity used as a closet and accessed by a doorway built into the wall. This room is divided off from another room to the west, at the front of the house. On the south side of the front portion of the house, separated from the above-mentioned rooms by a hallway that runs along the stair opening, is a single large room that also has a built-in closet. Going back through the hallway to the east end (past the bag room on the left) is the rear wing, which is divided into two sections, one on the north and one on the south. One must pass into the south room to access the north room. The south room is fairly large and open. The north room (baggage room) has more recently been divided into a storage room and a bathroom.
The property retains its historical appearance, situated on an open lot with only a few small deciduous trees. Directly around the house the yard is planted with grass, the rest is untrimmed field. A post and wire fence separates the yard from open fields both to the north and east. Behind the house to the east is a large gable-roof, wood frame and plank shed that may have served as a small barn. Although somewhat dilapidated exact construction date unknown, it was constructed during the historic era, and is considered a contributing building. To the southwest of this is a smaller historic (date unknown) wood frame and plank shed, which is also a contributing building. The George Hotel is one of the largest historic buildings in this small town and sits prominently on the main road through town. It retains its historic integrity and appearances and is a contributing resource in the small town of Kanosh.
The Temple Square Hotel, once located on this corner, opened to much fanfare in 1930. Designed by the firm of Ashton and Evans, the hotel was one of the finest in the city, featuring a private bath and built in radio in every room. A more intimate setting than the grand Hotel Utah up the street, it marked the city’s growth as a regional business center.
For decades, the Temple Square Hotel was a particularly popular venue for wedding celebrations. The hotel was renovated and renamed the Inn at Temple Square in 1990 and then demolished in 2006 to make way for the Promontory on South Temple.
The Park City Hotel was built on this site after the Great Fire of 1898. It was managed by a well-liked and respected Park City resident, Mrs. Marie Hethke O’Keefe, who also owned the furnishings. After it was destroyed in another fore in 1912, a great community fund-raising effort produced $22,000 to pay for the construction of a fine brick building to be called the New Park Hotel. On November 3, 1913, Mrs. O’Keefe opened the new hotel and it quickly became a favorite stopping place for travelers. It was described as a “beautiful and commodious hostelry with a dinning room decorated in patriotic red, white, and blue.” All meals, including Sunday dinner, were 50 cents each. Guest lists, which were published in the Park Record, indicated that business was flourishing. Mrs. O’Keefe operated the New Park Hotel until 1952 when depressed economics times forced its closure. She died in 1958. After extensive remodeling and modernization in the mid-1960s, the building reopened as The Claimjumper, a hotel, restaurant, and private club. The hotel rooms were converted into offices after a fire in 1992.
