When I was in Maui, I was challenged by a friend to write occasionally as a tourist in my own city, i.e., to write about Salt Lake. I decided to take up this challenge and set out on a quest to learn more about the place I now call home - Salt Lake City.
Meanwhile, I wrote last week about how I have finally reached a point and a place in my life where I feel like I have a home, where I feel at home. And because of this, I have an interest in learning about this home. In particular, I want to learn about aspects of it that I never knew before (read: primarily non-Mormon aspects). And I decided to start with South Temple.
Salt Lake City was laid out on a grid system, and South Temple is the street that runs along the south side of Temple Square, in the heart of the old city. The wide avenue stretches out primarily to the east (it coming to a rather abrupt stop a few blocks to the west of Temple Square), toward the mountains, and in the latter part of the 19th century, newly-rich mining barons, along with others of Salt Lake's elite, built mansions that lined the street.
Unfortunately, as a pamphlet published by the Utah Heritage Foundation points out, South Temple suffered a period of decline from the 1930s through the 1960s. Changes in zoning laws, waning family fortunes, and the demand for commercial space near downtown led to the demolition of 30 of the 40 grand mansions built on the street. "The loss of important historic buildings on South Temple," the pamphlet explains, "galvanized support for Utah’s young historic preservation movement in the 1960s. Because of its outstanding historical and architectural significance, South Temple was designated Salt Lake City’s first historic district in 1975 and a National Register Historic District in 1982."
Last week, I stopped, while on my way to Bountiful, to take some pictures in the area of South Temple just east of the downtown core. Here is found the beautiful Cathedral of the Madeleine and the old First Presbyterian Church, and here is where old South Temple - what is left of it - starts.
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| This old photograph of South Temple shows the Cathedral and the Presbyterian Church under construction. |
Just to the west of the Presbyterian Church is the old LDS Business College, the heart of which was the old Enos Wall residence.
Enos Wall staked mining claims and managed mining operations in Montana, Idaho, and Utah. He also invented several pieces of ore crushing machinery, but is best known as a co-founder of the immensely profitable Utah Copper Company in Bingham Canyon. This world-famous open-pit mining operation, now owned by Rio Tinto, eventually became Utah Kennecott Copper Company.
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| Enos Wall |
Wall eventually sold his holdings, receiving $2,700,000 on the New York market and in 1904 purchased a two story adobe home at 411 East South Temple, which had been built in 1880 by Mormon Bishop James Sharp. He hired architect Richard Kletting (who designed the Utah State Capitol) to transform the home into a palatial dwelling resembling a Renaissance villa.
The lavish interior featured delicately gilded frescos, beautiful woodwork, and handsome marble. Several of the guest bedrooms opened onto the rooftop promenade.
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| The Wall Mansion stands at the top of 400 East. They would have had a panoramic view looking south down 400 east as it stretches toward the south end of the valley. |
Enos and Mary Frances Wall lived in the house until their respective deaths in 1920 and 1923. Between 1926 and 1950 the mansion housed the Salt Lake Jewish Center. The Pacific National Life Insurance Company bought the mansion in 1950 and added the rectangular west wing in 1956. In 1961, the building was purchased by the LDS Business. The college constructed the building’s east wing in 1975. Aside from the addition of the two wings, the mansion’s exterior appears much as it did in 1914.
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