HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > United States > Mountain West


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #41  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2008, 7:02 PM
Comrade's Avatar
Comrade Comrade is online now
They all float down here
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Hair City, Utah
Posts: 9,448
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wasatch_One View Post
You know, I feel the same way. Up to this point, that hasn't been a lot of regard for historic buildings in Utah. Its like a big sandbox and they keep building, demolishing and re-building on the same spots.

I like that residents finally are starting to take a stand...for example the old Deseret Bank (First Security) building on 100s & Main and a lot of the lofts that are being renovated and created downtown out of older buildings.
I mean, at least they tried to keep the feel with the newer building, but then, why replace it if they were going to create a similar one?

Anyone know the history of this? I'm sure someone on the board must recall them demolishing it (I think it happened in the early 80s).
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #42  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2008, 7:20 PM
arkhitektor arkhitektor is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Clearfield, UT
Posts: 1,767
Quote:
Originally Posted by Comrade Reynolds View Post
I mean, at least they tried to keep the feel with the newer building, but then, why replace it if they were going to create a similar one?
I have no idea of its history, but I'd guess the reasoning behind its demo was similar to the original reasoning that was used to promote demolition of the First Security bldg: The building is old, has low ceilings and an outdated mechanical system. We're better off tearing it down and starting over than remodeling it. (Which, by the way, I think is totally bogus.)
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #43  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2008, 7:23 PM
urbanboy urbanboy is offline
BANNED
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Downtown Salt Lake City
Posts: 2,120
This is the exact day I was born:

Reply With Quote
     
     
  #44  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2008, 7:56 PM
Makid Makid is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,000
The original building was demolished as it wasn't able to meet the security requirements by the LDS Church. This is because the top level of the building is used to house the President of the LDS Church if they wish.

Due to the security requirements, it was cheaper to demolish the original building and rebuild a very similar looking building to attempt to keep the character and urban feel of the original building.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #45  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2008, 10:09 PM
Wasatch_One's Avatar
Wasatch_One Wasatch_One is offline
Wen Lambo
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Utah
Posts: 2,326
Interesting...

Quote:
Originally Posted by arkhitektor View Post
...I'd guess the reasoning behind its demo was similar to the original reasoning that was used to promote demolition of the First Security bldg: The building is old, has low ceilings and an outdated mechanical system. We're better off tearing it down and starting over than remodeling it. (Which, by the way, I think is totally bogus.)
I agree with this statement, that it's a bogus reason...

My guess is that usually the public will blindly take the "experts" at their word because there isn't a great deal of interest in saving historic gems... Little do they know these "experts" are paid by whatever developer to sway public opinion in their direction.

If these "shrug off" excuses really are the case, how has NYC or Boston or Philly or any of the major cities in our nation with a massive stock of pre-1900 and early 1900's architecture been able to retain a good chunk of it?

Buildings like the Kearns bldg or the (now Hotel Monaco) Continental Bank bldg or Boston and Newhouse buildings really give Main St a legitimate feel as opposed to newer boom cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc. While they are larger, there is (at least to me) a glaring fakeness... kind of a Disneyland Main St. feel to all of it.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #46  
Old Posted Dec 30, 2008, 12:55 AM
Comrade's Avatar
Comrade Comrade is online now
They all float down here
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Hair City, Utah
Posts: 9,448
Unfortunate they demolished it for those reasons, Makid. While I understand the importance of safety, it still would have been nice if they could've worked something out.

The original was a true gem.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #47  
Old Posted Dec 30, 2008, 12:56 AM
Comrade's Avatar
Comrade Comrade is online now
They all float down here
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Hair City, Utah
Posts: 9,448
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wasatch_One View Post
Interesting...



I agree with this statement, that it's a bogus reason...

My guess is that usually the public will blindly take the "experts" at their word because there isn't a great deal of interest in saving historic gems... Little do they know these "experts" are paid by whatever developer to sway public opinion in their direction.

If these "shrug off" excuses really are the case, how has NYC or Boston or Philly or any of the major cities in our nation with a massive stock of pre-1900 and early 1900's architecture been able to retain a good chunk of it?

Buildings like the Kearns bldg or the (now Hotel Monaco) Continental Bank bldg or Boston and Newhouse buildings really give Main St a legitimate feel as opposed to newer boom cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc. While they are larger, there is (at least to me) a glaring fakeness... kind of a Disneyland Main St. feel to all of it.
Right. Salt Lake did a better job at preserving older buildings than most cities, especially out here in the west, but you've always got to wonder what it'd look like today if the Newhouse Hotel and a few other Main Street buildings were still there.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #48  
Old Posted Dec 30, 2008, 4:27 AM
jmonkey's Avatar
jmonkey jmonkey is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Posts: 1,034
The Bransford Apartments, October 1912:



I believe it met the wrecking ball the very year of the floods, 1984. I remember reading something about it somewhere, but maybe I'm just talking out of my ass. It seems like there were a lot of bachelor apartments in this building. The bachelor apartments did not have kitchens, instead there were common kitchens and dining rooms. It was a pretty swank place, I believe. There are a lot of great pictures of this building in the Shipler Collection, including some great interior shots.

Security was a bogus reason to tear it down, but then, most buildings torn down in that period were done so with bogus reasoning. Didn't the LDS Church President live at the top of the Hotel Utah back then?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #49  
Old Posted Dec 30, 2008, 4:31 AM
Comrade's Avatar
Comrade Comrade is online now
They all float down here
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Hair City, Utah
Posts: 9,448
The floods were in 1983, so it very well could have been demolished a year later in 1984.

A terrible loss, though.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #50  
Old Posted Dec 30, 2008, 6:10 AM
Skyscrapers4Me Skyscrapers4Me is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Posts: 32
My first post ! Hey gang, I read SSP all the time. Thanks for the enlightenment, maybe I can toss in my 2 cents occasionally.

I've lived in the SL Valley my entire 46 years, so I might be able to explain why a few buildings were torn down...

The Hotel Newhouse: In it's day, a very nice building...but...it was essentially abandoned by the final owners. The building became very rundown. The homeless were sleeping it in, starting fires...if I remember right, the SL Fire Dept had to put out fires TWICE in the building's last years. The final straw was when the cornices and ornamental roofing started breaking loose and falling on pedestrians and parked cars. The building was in very poor condition, and no one wanted to spend the money to "bring it up to code", ie remove asbestos, earthquake proof it, etc. So it was just cheaper to bring the old lady down, what with liability and all. It's a real shame that it's a parking lot. Oh...and it was "The Hotel Newhouse"...not "The Newhouse Hotel"...lol

The original Eagle Gate, Bransford, and Holmes apartments...
my memory's a bit foggy, but I seem to recall that there was more than
a bit of a media firestorm about them being torn down.
There were asbestos issues, they did need refurbished on the interior.
A compromise was eventually reached: the grand old dames could be torn down IF they were replaced by something similar (classy, classic, etc ). I've tried surfing the net to jog my memory, but I seem to recall that THAT was what happened.

Anyhow, my first post...
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #51  
Old Posted Dec 30, 2008, 6:39 AM
arkhitektor arkhitektor is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Clearfield, UT
Posts: 1,767
Thanks for the input and welcome to the forum!
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #52  
Old Posted Dec 30, 2008, 8:30 AM
blazefirelight's Avatar
blazefirelight blazefirelight is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 104
Why couldn't they just dig up the old plans for the Bransford apartments from somewhere and just rebuild them to be exactly the same?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #53  
Old Posted Dec 30, 2008, 4:00 PM
arkhitektor arkhitektor is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Clearfield, UT
Posts: 1,767
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmonkey View Post
The Bransford Apartments, October 1912:
Wow, this picture (taken in Oct. 1912) actually pre-dates the Capitol, which wasn't started until December of that year. Its odd not seeing it at the top of State St. where it belongs.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #54  
Old Posted Dec 30, 2008, 4:27 PM
T-Mac's Avatar
T-Mac T-Mac is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Bountiful, Utah
Posts: 1,163
I looked up on Zions Securities website and they show that the newer building was completed in 1987.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #55  
Old Posted Dec 30, 2008, 10:30 PM
utahboozer's Avatar
utahboozer utahboozer is offline
Lurking in a wigwam
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 79
Quote:
Originally Posted by Comrade Reynolds View Post
Salt Lake in 1967:




These pics are crazy! It took me a minute to place it all because Main Street is blocked between South and North Temple.

Oh man, it would be much easier to get to work if that infernal pedestrian plaza weren't there...


This thread is, literally, all I have ever wanted from the interwebz.
__________________
Loves me some Jazz.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #56  
Old Posted Dec 31, 2008, 8:20 AM
anyiliang's Avatar
anyiliang anyiliang is offline
加油
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: 台灣
Posts: 560


Utah State Prison in the 1950's (Deseret Morning News Archive)
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #57  
Old Posted Dec 31, 2008, 3:57 PM
arkhitektor arkhitektor is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Clearfield, UT
Posts: 1,767
These pictures are only about 7 years old, but they can still probably be considered "classics." All are taken from KSL's Olympic page.

Link:
http://2002.ksl.com/photoidx-i.php?p=1









Everything in this picture has changed since 2002:


The Old Key Bank Tower and Convention Center on S. Temple:














Scroll>>>>








Reply With Quote
     
     
  #58  
Old Posted Dec 31, 2008, 4:16 PM
utahboozer's Avatar
utahboozer utahboozer is offline
Lurking in a wigwam
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 79
Oh god this picture brings back memories (copied from above post):


I was in my freshman year at the U when the Olympics rolled through. We got out Spring Break in January that year...

I still have some of the fabric that lined the fences in this photo!
__________________
Loves me some Jazz.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #59  
Old Posted Dec 31, 2008, 4:26 PM
arkhitektor arkhitektor is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Clearfield, UT
Posts: 1,767


What is that building at the U. by the way?
It looks like it belongs in Sarajevo.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #60  
Old Posted Dec 31, 2008, 8:00 PM
Comrade's Avatar
Comrade Comrade is online now
They all float down here
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Hair City, Utah
Posts: 9,448
It's the School of Social Work, or SW Building.

I actually like how it peeks over the east stands of Rice-Eccles.

Here's another 90s photo, probably from the mid-90s:

Reply With Quote
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > United States > Mountain West
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 10:12 PM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.