This building, designed by the architectural firm of Ware and Treganza, was constructed 1912-1913 for the Ladies Literary Club. Organized in 1877 the club is one of the oldest women’s clubs in the United States. The club sponsors projects to enhance the culture and beauty of Salt Lake City.
Built in 1912, the Ladies Literary Club Building is considered one of Utah’s finest examples of the Prairie style. This style’s horizontal emphasis is reflected in the building’s rows of casement windows, the porch extending across the entire front facade, bands of wood inlay on the second story, and wide eaves. A porch roof supported by brick piers shelters the entryway and extends over the driveway to the west to form a porte-cochere. Restrained ornamentation, like the wood inlay on the porch ceiling and the exquisite leaded glass, are also in keeping with the spare feeling of the Prairie style.
The architectural firm of Ware & Treganza won the commission for the Ladies Literary Club Building in a design competition. During their partnership of 25 years, Walter E. Ware and Albert O. Treganza designed several other Salt Lake City landmarks, including the Walker Mansion on South Temple and the Commercial Club in Exchange Place.
The Ladies Literary Club was founded 35 years prior to the construction of this beautiful building to promote literary and artistic endeavors. The club played an important role in the development of public libraries in Utah, from supporting the first public subscription library operated by the Masons to securing the passage of a bill to fund the state’s first free public library in 1896. During the 1950s and 1960s, the club made its building available to the Utah Symphony for rehearsals. Members of the club continue to meet in this building and support a variety of educational and charitable causes.
Constructed in 1899, the home was the residence of William Hatfield, a stockbroker, until 1905 when John C. Lynch acquired the home. In 1973, the Sister of the Holy Cross purchased the home from Lawrence Brennan. The Sisters dedicated their home to prayer and peace and placed this marker during their centennial year of service in Utah, 1975.
Built in 1909, this Colonial revival house was originally the home of Mrs. Frances Horlick Walker, widow of Samuel S. Walker. The Walker brothers are known for their mining and banking concerns in Utah. Born in England in 1837, Mrs. Walker came to Utah with her parents in 1849. After her death in 1915, the house was rented and owned by carious people, including Charles C. and Denise K. Bintz, who bought the house c.1930. The Bintzes lived here with their family until 1939, when it was sold to Town Club. Town Club was founded by Wynn Conan Schram (Mrs, J. T.) in 1930 to develop and foster charitable, civic, educational, and social activities.
Frances Walker House/Town Club 1081 E. South Temple 1906, architect unknown
Frances Walker built this home on South Temple when her house at 400 South and Main Street was demolished to make way for the Newhouse Hotel. Frances Walker was the widow of Samuel Walker, the eldest of the four brothers who founded the Walker Brothers Dry Goods Store and Walker Brothers Bank. Like her husband, Frances Walker was a native of England and emigrated to Utah with her family in 1849.
The Town Club, an elite women’s group, purchased the building as a clubhouse in 1939. The Town Club was founded in 1930 to foster charitable, civic, educational, and social activities among its members. The club continues to host luncheons, receptions, and cultural activities for members and guests in the house today.
One of the most striking elements of this Colonial Revival style house is the swan’s neck pediment above the front dormer. Also note the leaded glass side lights and heavy stone lintel which accent the front door. The one-story east wing was added after the Town Club acquired the house. (from Preservation Utah’s walking tour)
Constructed in 1907, this two-story four-square type house with a hipped roof was designed by the firm of Walter E. Ware and Alberto O. Treganza, two of Utah’s best-known architects. Strongly influenced by the Prairie School style, for which the firm was best known, the design includes a centrally placed hipped dormer in the roof, wide overhanging easves with exposed rafters, and a large one-story front porch. Distinctive interior features include crown moldings, Craftsman bookcases with leaded glass, and a beamed dining room ceiling with recessed breakfront.
The home was first owned by Edward O.Howard, a banker and businessman. Born in Skaneateles, New York, in 1866, he moved to Utah at the age of twenty-four. In Salt Lake City, Howard was involved in many successful business ventures, including the Walker Brothers Bank, National Credit Corporation, Utah Light and Traction Company, and Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. Howard married Annie Payson in 1895. Annie is most noted as a founder of Salt Lake City’s Memory Grove, a memorial park for World War I veterans. The home was sold to Hyrum W. Pingree in 1920, who held the property until 1934. The property had had several subsequent owners.
This two-story Victorian Eclectic style house was likely built in 1898 for Gracia Flanders, daughter of a railroad tycoon. Miss Flanders was a piano teacher and taught lessons in this house. After she moved to Berkley, California, in 1919, the house sat vacant for three years. Subsequent occupants were Samuel M. Taylor, an undertaker (1923-29), and Byron Frobes, a postal clerk (1930-41). The house changed hands several times in the 1940s. It was used as a rest home during the 1950s-1970s, including the Alpine-Chavis Nursing Home owned by Judy Chavis. In 1996, Jack Jr. and Pam Okland purchased the home from Jason Lunt. Over a ten year period, the Oklands attentively restored the home. The home is a contributing structure within Salt Lake City’s South Temple Historic District.
This home was built in 1920 for Newell C. Beeman and his wife Anna Jane Harvey. Beeman, a native of Phelps, New York, spent most of his working life engaged in various enterprises connected with iron and coal mining. He was superintendant of the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company in Almy, Wyoming, for over three decades. During this time, he became involved in several other business ventures, including a large general store serving the miners in Almy. Beeman settled in Salt Lake City in the early 1890s and remained active in various lines of business. He died here at his home on March 20, 1927.
G. G. Gray built the Beeman home on this corner lot, which had been previously occupied by two structures. The one-and-one-half-story bungalow, primarily constructed of striated brick, is an example of the most popular house type built in Utah during the first quarter of the twentieth century. It shows Arts and Crafts-style architectural influences, including wide, overhanging eaves; a single story projecting porch; and geometrically patterned stained-glass windows. As is typical of the Arts and Crafts-style bungalow, the main roof ridge runs parallel to the street, and its slope is interrupted by a gabled dormer. The house has been restored by Larry V. and Sherry Poulson.
From 1945 to 1964, this was the home of David O. McKay, the ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition to church service both he and his wife, Emma Ray Riggs McKay, were public school teachers. The original owner of the house was Walter H. Dayton, a well known Salt Lake City businessman. He built the house in 1906. In 1964 the house was purchased by the Utah Congress of Parents and Teachers, and since that time has been used as their state headquarters.
Constructed in 1909, the house was originally built for Hugh L. and Lucie R. Thomas. An Ohio native, Mr. Thomas spent his career working as the superintendent of the Utah-Idaho-Nevada Telephone Company and later for the White Pine Telephone Company. The home was sold in 1936 to Agnes Smith Knowlton. The two-story dwelling has an irregular floor plan and exhibits minor Colonial Revival and Craftsman-style detailing. Character-defining features include its hip roofs with exposed rafters and clinker brick masonry. The home is a contributing feature of the Salt Lake City South Temple Historic District.
This two-and-one-half story Queen Anne style house was built in 1891 for John H. Bennett, a general freight and passenger agent for the Rio Grande Western Railway. He owned the house until 1912, but Joseph S. Richards, son of early Mormon leader and pioneer, Willard Richards, lived here from 1899 to 1905. Joseph Richards trained at Bellevue Medical College in New York City. He was chief surgeon at Deseret Hospital and, later, medical director for LDS Hospital.
The asymmetrical facades and roof forms are characteristic of the Queen Anne architectural style that was popular in Utah from about 1885 to 1905. The classically-detailed porch has a band of dentil molding and simplified Corinthian columns, while the decorative gable-end shingles, sculptural wooden brackets supporting the eaves, and the unusual diamond pattern created by recessing brick on the upper front facade reflect the range of picturesque features found in Queen Anne style houses. This handsome house contributes to the architectural continuity and integrity of the South Temple Historic District.
The Utah Governor’s Mansion is the official residence of the Governor of Utah and family. It is located in the South Temple Historic District in the Avenues neighborhood at 603 East South Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Thomas Kearns rose from modest beginnings to become a successful financier and United States Senator. He was born on April 11, 1862, on a farm in Ontario, Canada, the son of Margaret and Thomas Kearns. His family moved to Nebraska when Thomas was seven. At the age of 17 he went to South Dakota when gold was discovered in the Black Hills» After that he went to Arizona where he worked as a miner and a teamster. In 1883 he arrived in Utah and secured employment with the Denver Rio Grande Railroad. He went to Park City, Utah, in the summer of 1883 and worked in the mines. Working in the Ontario Mine, Kearns met his lifelong friend and advisor, David Keith. By 1892 Kearns, Keith, John Judge and others, leased mining property in Park City and formed the Silver King Mining Company. The profits from this mine were great, and the land holdings of this company increased. In 1907 the Silver King Coalition Mines Company was formed with Kearns as vice-president and Keith as President. In 1901 he acquired the Salt Lake Tribune. He was a noted philanthropist, and erected St. Anne f s Orphanage in Salt Lake City and gave generously to Catholic charities. He was a staunch Republican and was elected to the United States Senate in 1901. In Washington he became a close friend of Theodore Roosevelt.
He married Jennie Judge, of New York, in 1890. They had two sons and two daughters. Kearns died in October 1918. The home remained in the family until 1937 when Mrs. Judge donated it to the State of Utah. It was used as the governor’s mansion from 1937 to 1957, when it became the offices ‘of the Utah State Historical Society. In 1978 the home was vacated for a massive renovation and restoration project. After it was completed it started being used as the governor’s mansion.
The Kearns Mansion has a stone exterior richly detailed with round towers at three of its four corners.
At the time of the building, the mansion contained 28 rooms: 6 baths, ten fireplaces (of which nine remain), an all-marble kitchen and bathroom, a bowling alley, ballroom, billiard room, two parlors, two dining rooms, and three vaults (one for silver, one for wine, and one for jewelry). Cost of construction was approximately $250,000.00.
The carriage house is one of Utah’s most elaborate and best preserved carriage houses. It was built to serve-the Kearns Mansion, built by mining magnate Thomas Kearns. For many years it was the home of the Utah State Institute of Fine Arts. In 1978 the Institute moved next door to 617 East South Temple.
The Thomas Kearns Mansion and Carriage House was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#70000631) on February 26, 1970, it is located at 603 East South Temple in the South Temple Historic District of Salt Lake City, Utah – the text below is from the nomination form from the register:
The Kearns Mansion was designed by Architect Carl M. Neuhausen for millionaire mining magnate Thomas Kearns. It is a part of the national culture that shows up in this area. The foundation was laid in the spring of 1900 and the building completed in 1902.
Thomas Kearns came to Utah in 1883 as a young man working on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. He gravitated to the mines in Park City where he soon became part owner of the Silver King Coalition Silver Mines. His partner was David Keith. With his newly acquired wealth, Kearns built his lovely mansion on Brigham Street (later South Temple Street) in 1902.
The building itself is a work of art, made of oolite marble, and richly furnished interiors of wood, tile and marble. It reflects the quality that affluence could demand in the new twentieth century.
Thomas Kearns became a millionaire before he was 28 years old and a United States Senator from Utah by the age of 40 (1901-1905). He also was a noted philanthropist, erecting the Kearns St. Ann’s Orphanage, now St. Ann’s School. He became the publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune. Today the Kearns Building, Kearns Corporation, and Kearns, Utah, perpetuate his name.
The Kearns family lived in the mansion for over thirty-five years. In it many distinguished guests were entertained, including two presidents: Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. President Roosevelt watched a parade on South Temple from the marble loggia on the second floor.
Thomas Kearns died in 1918, but the home remained in the possession of the family until 1937, when Mrs. Jennie Kearns donated it to the state to be used as a governor’s mansion. Three Utah governors lived in the mansion; Henry H. Blood, Herbert B. Maw, and J. Bracken Lee. In 1957 the mansion became the home of the Utah State Historical Society. It is the intention of the Society that this lovely building be preserved and kept open to the public to provide a show place depicting the genteel life that Utah’s mineral resources produced for one of the state’s foremost families.
The Kearns Mansion has a stone exterior richly detailed with round towers at three of its four corners.
At the time of the building, the mansion contained 28 rooms: 6 baths, ten fireplaces (of which nine remain), an all-marble kitchen and bathroom, a bowling alley, bal1 room, fail Hard room, two parlors, two dining rooms, and three vaults (one for silver, one for wine, and one for jewelry). Cost of construction was approximately $250,000.00,
The main entrance on the south leads into a hallway with a floor of handset ceramic tile, one of the few in Utah. The wood-panelled walls and the floating staircase are made of French oak, hand carved by artisans imported from Europe. In the main hallway are two columns carved with allegorical scenes: “The Rape of the Sabines” and “Botticelli’s Graces”. At the end of the main hall (south) are the massive iron and glass doors. The foyer is of African and Roman marble. Above the main hall is a graceful oval ceiling well. To the west of the front hall is the state drawing room converted early in the history of the mansion from two parlors: the Louis XVI and the Moorish parlors.
The first room east of the front hall is the den. The Flemish oak paneling is stained black. North of the den is the state dining room of red stained mahogany. Reportedly all the wood in this room came from the mahogany trees in the Ural Mountains of Russia. Dominating the room, above the table, is a large bronze chandelier. The figures on the newel posts at the foot of the stairs were done by the French sculptor Moreau and were brought from the Paris Exposition of 1900 by Senator Kearns.
Off the main hall of the second floor were the bedrooms and guest rooms of the Kearns family and later the governors. The former bedrooms of the Kearns family and the governors were in the southeast corner of the second-floor, now the library. Across the hall were other bedrooms now housing the picture collections, and the librarian’s office. The director’s office was formerly the nursery. The marble bathroom is in the northeast portion of this floor. At the south end of the hallway on the second floor doors open to a marble loggia.
The third floor contains the ballroom or gymnasium and the billiard room. These rooms now serve as galleries Overlooking the circular hallway on this floor is the beautiful ceiling well which crowns this stately mansion.
In the basement was a two-lane bowling alley and wine vault. This area is now used to house the library’s extensive collections. Only slight alterations have been made to the building; both the grandeur and affluence of its builder and owner remain.
Outside and to the rear of the mansion (north) is the carriage house, also of oolite marble, which now houses the Utah Institute of Fine Arts. This exterior has not been modified; however, the interior has undergone major alterations.
(from Preservation Utah’s walking tour) Thomas & Jennie Kearns Mansion (Utah Governor’s Mansion) 603 E. South Temple 1900- 1902, Carl M. Neuhausen, SLC Tours available April-November on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 2-4 pm.
Thomas Kearns, with his partner David Keith (see entry #12), made a fortune on the silver flowing out of Park City mines. Kearns’ wealth enabled him to become one of Utah’s most influential men. He served a term in the United States Senate (1901-1905) and co-owned the Salt Lake Tribune with Keith.
Every feature of the Chateauesque mansion built for Kearns and his wife, Jennie, speaks of eloquence and opulence. Utilizing the finest craftsmen and materials available, the Kearnses created a residence comparable in quality and style to mansions built by the Vanderbilts and Carnegies in the East. The Kearns Mansion became the dazzling center of Utah’s elite social life. President Theodore Roosevelt, a personal friend of the Kearnses, dined here in 1903.
The Kearns Mansion began a new phase in its history in 1937 when Jennie Kearns donated it to the state for use as Utah’s first official governor’s residence. Between 1937 and 1957, three Utah first families lived in the mansion. In 1957,the state legislature funded the construction of a new governor’s residence and the Utah State Historical Society moved into the building. After a renovation project spearheaded by Governor Scott and Mrs. Norma Matheson, the Kearns Mansion became the Governor’s Mansion once again in 1980.
The Kearns Mansion began a new phase in its history in 1937 when Jennie Kearns donated it to the state for use as Utah’s first official governor’s residence. Between 1937 and 1957, three Utah first families lived in the mansion. In 1957,the state legislature funded the construction of a new governor’s residence and the Utah State Historical Society moved into the building. After a renovation project spearheaded by Governor Scott and Mrs. Norma Matheson, the Kearns Mansion became the Governor’s Mansion once again in 1980.
