Located at 284 East 100 North in Provo is the George M. Brown House, it was built as a home for a “polygamous wife” of lawyer George M. Brown.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The George M. Brown House was built in the 1880s, on property obtained from Abraham O. Smoot. This is a two-story, central-hall, vernacular type house. “The Brown House exhibits the versatility and decorative jigsaw work usually found in the Gothic Revival, but displays the horizontal siding, simulated quoins, and symmetry of the local building tradition.” The George M. Brown House was designated to the Provo Historic Landmarks Registry on March 21, 1996.

Though built during the Victorian era, the George M. Brown House is a distinguished example of carpenter Gothic architecture. Containing thin wooden tracery, a monochromatic color scheme, and steep gables as well as other features, the Gothic style is very evident in this home. The Carpenter Gothic style emerged as builders became more concerned with costs, namely the cost of stone. “The Brown home attempts to combine the best of two generations with its asymmetrical Victorian east elevation and its symmetrical, dormered north elevation which contains nearly all the elements of typical pioneer homes of the mid-1870s (Roberts p. 2).” Decorative elements on the home include bargeboards, Quoins, a bay window, chimneys, window trim, door trim, dormers, a cornice, siding, and windows.

Born on April 5, 1842, in Macedonia, Illinois, George Mortimer Brown settled in Utah with his family in 1842. A member of the Mormon faith, George served a mission to Norway in 1866, the same year he began his marriage to Elizabeth Olsen. After his mission, George became an attorney. In addition to Elizabeth, George married two more women – Amelia West and Pearl Wilson.Shortly after the initial construction of the home, Brown’s first wife attained the title to it, and Brown and his two other wives and children left and settled in Colonia Diaz, a Mormon settlement in Mexico. He ran a store there until he died on July 6, 1894.

Located at 287 East 100 North in Provo, the John R. Twelves House is a historic house listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This home was built in 1906 by John R. Twelves. John R. Twelves was a central figure in Utah’s history, being involved in the Grand Central Mining Company and serving as Utah County’s treasurer and recorder. The John R. Twelves House was designated to the Provo City Historic Landmarks Registry on April 26, 1996.

Since 2005 the Twelves House was the home of independent filmmaker Richard Dutcher’s Main Street Movie Company, a motion picture production and distribution company. I remember there was a 9 foot marble sculpture of Jesus, which dominated the front lawn, it was a prop which plays prominently in Dutcher’s film FALLING.

Constructed C. 1902 by the owner, Angus G. Beebe, this one-story brick house is a well-preserved example of an early twentieth century house pattern book design.

The Beebe House is a restrained example of the small, pattern-book house of the Victorian era.  A comprehensive survey of the city of Provo concluded that it is one of the best of only a few remaining examples of this type.  With its arrangement of square corner tower, gables and corner porches, it is the more sophisticated of only two pattern book houses in the city with an entry vestibule in the corner tower.  While few houses in Utah are exact copies of the most widely published pattern books, the influence of suck books is shown in the sparse ornamentation and irregular plan of residences like the Beebe House.

The house was built for Angus G. Beebe, son of a flour-milling family, who was himself employed as bookkeeper of the Provo Roller Mills managed by his brother David R. Miller.  Angus later became a found of the Beebe Lumber Company.  The style and substance of the home, probably loosely copied from a pattern book bought by mail by the owner or builder, suggests the aspirations to fashion of many second-generation Provo residents.  Of interest in the interior is the interior woodwork.  The oak hardwood flooring is also intact.

Located at 489 West 100 South in Provo, Utah

The William D. Alexander House is a historic house located at 91 West 200 South in Provo, Utah. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is asserted to be the only period example of Stick Style architecture in the state of Utah.

The William D. Alexander House was built in 1891 by William Denton Alexander. This home is perhaps the only example of Stick Style architecture in Utah. “The overall design of the house integrates Eastlake porch details and Queen Anne wall shingling on the upper story with the dominant ground level Stick Style to form a complete, cohesive, architectural composition… The visual complexity of the house is further accentuated by the mixing of hip and gable roof forms, the use of projecting wall dormers, and the presence of clipped corners on the house body and wing (National Park Service p. 1).” The William D. Alexander House was designated to the Provo Historic Landmark registry on March 7, 1996.