Walking Tours of Provo - Day 2

Our second walking tour of Provo started on the east side of University Avenue and took us down the other half of Center Street. We explored a few more commercial buildings, historic houses, churches and schools and learned about some of Provo's most prominent early residents. 

Knight Building, present day

Knight Building

(Corner of University Avenue and East Center Street)

• constructed in 1900 and served as Jesse Knight’s financial center
• 3 story building of red brick and gray limestone lintels; clocktower
• This 9,000 square foot Victorian Romanesque style building was built by mine owner/entrepreneur Jesse Knight by Richard C. Watkins
• Jesse Knight was born in 1845 in Nauvoo, Illinois (6th child of Newel Knight, a close friend of Joseph Smith’s and his second wife, Lydia; Newel died in Nebraska).
• Jessie’s family migrated west, and reached Utah in 1857.
• Twelve years later Jessie married a woman by the name of Amanda McEwan, and began a ranch in Payson, Utah. Following an impression that he had, Jessie began a mining operation in the Eureka area (Tintic Mining Industry) and became rich. He subsequently bought other mines, founded a bank, purchased real estate in Provo, bought the Provo Woolen Mills, and started farming and cattle interests in Canada.
• The primary focus of his 65 companies was copper, iron, and coal mining, with gold, silver, and other precious metals as secondary products.
• Knight was known by the moniker "Uncle Jesse" during his lifetime due to his image as rich but giving uncle. In his writing, he expressed a belief that his money was for the purpose of doing good and building up his church; he regarded the matter as a "trusted stewardship."
• Jessie Knight died in 1921, designating much of his amassed fortune to BYU and various other institutions.
• Although he strayed from the LDS Church in his early years and briefly affiliated with the anti-Mormon Liberal Party in Utah, he was a devout member for most of his life and helped to save the LDS Church from financial ruin incurred from legal battles with the federal government over control of the Utah territory and issues such as polygamy.

A group of riders on horseback, c. 1880-1920; the Gates-Snow Building can be seen in the background with its large advertisement for 5 cent cigars

Gates-Snow Building

41 East Center Street 

• In 1889 the Snow Brothers expanded their store and moved from the first floor the Academy boarding house to the old Factory store across the street from the courthouse. They added a story to the building. The next year Snow added J. F. Gates as a partner.
• The new company tore down the existing building and completed a three story building.
• The business’ success did not last. In 1890 a depression hit Provo, Utah, and the rest of the United States. The impressive building was completed in October 1890. By April 1891 the store was going out of business. 
• In 1898 Jesse Knight purchased the building for $3,600. 
• In 1902 Gates and Snow dissolved their furniture partnership, and M. Snow continued to sell furniture. Gates and Snow continued to operate an insurance business.

Knight Mansion, c.1906

Jesse Knight House/Knight Mansion/Berg Mortuary
185 East Center Street

• built in 1905 by architect Ware Walter
• Late Victorian/Colonial Revival
• Two and a half stories tall, the Jesse Knight home was built in the Colonial Revival Style. Possessing a symmetrical facade, the detailing of the home exhibits “A broad entablature with a boxed cornice with egg and dart ornament and dentils on the frieze, swan’s neck pedimented dormers, Ionic capitals on quoins that are meant to resemble pilasters, pilasters on the corners of the dormers and flanking the first floor windows, and the Ionic columns (Utah State Historical Society p. 2).”
• Berg Mortuary was established in 1870 by Ole H. Berg and his son, Wyman. In the beginning they occupied a smaller facility at 40 East Center Street. In 1935 they purchased the Jesse Knight mansion at 185 East Center Street and moved their business to that location.

Present-day Berg Mortuary

 


J. Albert Scorup House
237 East Center

• Built in 1887 for LDS General Authority Erastus Snow.
• Early Victorian with some elements of Greek Revival
• Since 1917, the property has been owned by J. Albert Scorup and his descendants

 

J. William Knight House, c. 1940s

J. William Knight House
289 East Center Street

• 1910; Italianate or Box Style with Prairie Style influences
• built for J. William Knight and his wife Lucy Jane Brimhall and remained in the Knight family until 1945

Hannah Smith (in white apron) and family members in front of her house

Hannah Smith House
315 East Center Street

• built in 1878 for one of George A. Smith’s wives (Hannah, #6)
• When Smith died, only the foundation had been completed
• Hannah raised her children here and her grandson, George Albert Smith (a prophet) spent a lot of time here
• remarkable original condition and simple architecture style; vernacular architecture

Knight-Mangum House
381 East Center Street

• completed in 1908.
• It was built for Mr. W. Lester Mangum and his wife Jennie Knight Mangum. Mrs. Mangum was the daughter of the famous Utah mining man, Jessie Knight. The lot was purchased for $3,500 and the home was built at a cost of about $40,000. [almost $1M today] The Mangum family was able to afford the home due to the fact that they had sold their shares in Jessie Knight's mine located in Tintic, Utah, for eight dollars a share. They had purchased the shares for only twenty cents a share, so the excess allowed them enough funds to purchase the home."
• After the death of Mr. Mangum in 1949, the home was sold to Paul Salisbury of Salt Lake City who divided the home up into eleven individual apartments.
• This two and one half story house in a style which is the product of the Arts and Crafts movement has an asymmetrical composition, steep gable roof with exposed rafters, decorative stick work on the top two stories, cross gables and gable dormers, exposed purlins, decorative brackets along the roofline, and a flat roofed single story porch with exposed rafters that wrap around the southeast corner. The house rests on a raised concrete basement.
• Clinker brick has been used for the first story, for the posts of the porch, for the chimneys, and for the wall that surrounds the house.
• In early brick firing kilns, the surface of the bricks that were too close to the fire changed into the volcanic textures and darker/purplish colors. They were often discarded, but around 1900, these bricks were discovered by architects to be usable, distinctive and charming in architectural detailing, adding the earthy quality favored by Arts & Crafts style designers. Modern brick-making techniques can recreate the appearance of these bricks and produce a more consistent product.

Knight-Allen House, present day

Knight-Allen House
390 East Center

• The Knight-Allen home was constructed in 1899 in the Victorian style. Containing a Moorish tin scalloped roof, an Italianate turret, distinctive lintels, Romanesque porch tiers, and several ornate window shapes, it is an excellent example of a Victorian Eclectic home.
• The Knight Allen house was built for J. William Knight, an important businessman in turn-of-the-century Provo and a son of Jesse Knight. It was subsequently owned by R. E. Allen a son-in-law of Jesse Knight who was also an important businessman and an officer in all the Knight family businesses.
• It is probable that it was designed by Richard C. Watkins, a prominent local architect.
• J. William Knight married in 1899 and this was the couple's first house. When he and his new wife moved to Canada to manage a Knight concerns there, J. William Knight sold the house to his sister Inez and her new husband, Robert Eugene Allen. Because the Knights lived in the house for such a short period of time, the building is more closely associated with the Allen family.
• Inez Knight Allen was a woman of note. She was one of the first two women sent as proselytizing missionaries by the LDS Church. She later became very active in politics and civic affairs. She was the Democratic National Committee woman from Utah for four years, was a delegate to National Democratic conventions, and ran unsuccessfully for the state senate. She also chaired many local civic groups.

Alma Van Wagenen House
415 East Center Street

• 1917, designed and built by Joseph Nelson, the architect of Utah County Courthouse
• is said to have Provo’s first family room, which was large enough for dancing
• rare example of Prairie style architecture with the compact box plan based on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fireproof House, fine interior woodwork
• Two Provo mayors lived here: Alma Van Wagenen (1928-29) and his son Harold (1956-1957)

Ambrose P. Merrill House
424 East Center Street

• unusual and handsome bungalow constructed in 1912
• Merrill was the general manager of the Knight Consolidated Power Company
• many other prominent Provoans owned this house through the ages

Lizzie V. Sutton House

425 East Center Street

• built in 1903 and owned by Lizzie V. Sutton until 1934
• intact example of Victorian Electic
• now 3 apartments

John C. Graham House
461 East Center

• neoclassical design motif, built in 1906
• John C Graham owned the house from 1918 to the 1970s; organized the New Century Printing Company and active in the community

Robena F. Buckley House
492 East Center Street

• 1919 Arts and Crafts Bungalow
• deep, bracketed eaves, single broad low gables, clinker brick wainscotting and small paned windows are characteristic of this architectural style

Maeser Elementary School
150 South 500 East

• This school was built in 1898
• Named after Karl G. Maeser, a prominent educator.  
• The building was designed by Richard C. Watkins, perhaps one of the most prolific architects in central Utah. (Knight Building, Provo Third Ward Chapel)
• The Maeser School is a significant example of civic architecture with applied Romanesque ornament.  This style was popular in Utah from 1880 to 1900, but few examples remain.  This school is the oldest public school in Provo and is one of the best preserved examples of the work of architect Richard Watkins.
• Provo School District stopped using as a school in 2002 and threatened to demolish the building. The Maeser School was redeveloped by the Provo City Housing Authority as senior housing with 31 apartments.

Charles Loose House
383 East 200 South

• Built in 1893 by Charles E. Loose. Charles Loose was involved in the Grand Central Mining Company as manager, which is where he acquired his wealth.
•  He was probably the most prominent non-Mormon in Provo at the turn-of-the-century.
• This house is distinct among turn-of-the-century homes of Provo’s other leading entrepreneurs in that it combines the massing of the Shingle Style with a consistent program of Eastlake ornamentation. Its enveloping roof, veranda and pentagonal fanlight gable windows mark its individuality among the City’s architecture.
• Donated land so that Maeser school could have a playground.

 

Provo First Ward Building, present day

Provo First Ward Chapel
191 South 100 East

Interior of Chapel, c. 1928

• completed in 1930, and is located at 100 East and 200 South on the site where one of Provo’s first schoolhouses once stood.  
• The Salt Lake City architectural firm, Pope and Burton, worked with Provo architect J. E. Allen to design the building.  
•  It was one of only a few “airplane type” meetinghouses built by the LDS Church.  Construction began on December 18, 1927, when Thomas N. Taylor, President of the Utah Stake of the LDS Church and a prominent Provo businessman, dedicated the site.
• The first meeting was held in the new chapel on May 4, 1930, when LDS Church President Heber J. Grant was the speaker.  

Andrew N. and Lydia Holdaway House
190 East 100 South

• This home was constructed in 1911 and is an example of a neoclassical central block form with projecting bays.  The home is built of yellow pressed brick that has been painted white. 
• This house originally faced 200 East and was identified as 110 South 200 East.  In 1953, the home became the Union Pacific Rooming House, presumably a boarding house for Union Pacific workers.
•  In 1965 the structure was sold to Phil Aiken who hired Provo architect Lee Knell to remodel the structure into a chiropractor’s office.  In 2000, the structure was sold to Todd and Leslie Stilson who have restored the structure to a residence.

 

Reed Smoot House (Reed Smoot is standing in the far right)

Reed Smoot House
183 East 100 South

Present-day house

• built in 1892 for Reed Smoot, U.S. Senator and apostle
• preliminary designs were sketched by Smoot and finished by Richard Kletting
• Victorian eclectic
• site of several visits from US presidents in the early 20th century
• Reed Owen Smoot (January 10, 1862 – February 9, 1941, aged 79) was a native-born Utahn who was first elected to the United States Senate from Utah in 1903, and served as a Republican Senator until 1933.
• Son of Abraham O. Smoot and Anne Kristine Mauritzen (wife #5)
• After becoming an apostle in 1900, Smoot received the approval of church president Joseph F. Smith to run for office in 1902. He was elected the same year to the United States Senate (58th Congress) as a Republican Senator, representing the state of Utah
• His election sparked a bitter four-year battle in the Senate on whether Smoot was eligible or should be allowed to serve, due to his position as a Mormon apostle. Many were convinced that his association with the church disqualified him from serving in the United States Senate.
• The Smoot Hearings began on January 16, 1904 and lasted until February 20, 1907. The hearings included exhaustive questioning into the continuation of plural marriage within the state of Utah and the LDS Church, and questions on church teachings. doctrines and history. Although Smoot was not a polygamist, the charge by those opposed to his election to the Senate was that he could not swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States while serving in the highest echelons of an organization that sanctioned law breaking.
• Despite some damaging testimony, Senator Smoot gradually won support for three reasons. First, his character was found to be above reproach, and charges against him and the Church proved groundless. Second, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was sympathetic to Smoot's position; his motivation was partly personal but also political, as Senator Smoot and a Republican Utah were important to him. Third, the defense convinced a majority of senators that Smoot's apostleship would not impair his ability to put the oath of the senator first in executing his responsibilities. 
•  One supporter was Senator Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania. Addressing the subject of polygamy, Penrose reportedly glared at one or more of his Senate colleagues who had a reputation for philandering and said, "As for me, I would rather have seated beside me in this chamber a polygamist who doesn't polyg than a monogamist who doesn't monag.^"

• Aftermath: President Joseph F. Smith on April 6, 1904, issued a "Second Manifesto," which reaffirmed the first regarding polygamy. He also declared any church officer who performed a plural marriage, as well as the offending couple, would be excommunicated. He clarified that the policy applied worldwide, not just in North America. Two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley, resigned in October 1905 following the manifesto. This change to the Twelve was made public in April 1906, when George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, and David O. McKay were added to the quorum.
• In 1916, Smoot was the lead sponsor of the legislation in the Senate that created the National Park Service.
• Smoot is primarily remembered as the co-sponsor of the 1930 Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, which raised US import tariffs on over 20,000 dutiable items to record levels and is widely regarded as having exacerbated the Great Depression.  

P.S. Sorry for the funky formatting of these posts.

Walking Tours of Provo - Day 1

Waaaay back in October, the Arts and Letter committee put on a three-part series of walking tours of Provo, which looked at both the history and architecture of our local city. I've had many requests to share my notes and I've finally gotten around to compiling some of them. Here is the first day, where we covered historic downtown Provo (Center Street), commercial architecture and early examples of both residential and ecclesiastical structures in Provo. 

Settlement of Provo

• Fort Utah was settled in 1849 by 33 Mormon families from Salt Lake City; The group of about 150 individuals were under the leadership of John S. Higbee.
• original site was located near Geneva Road and then moved to the current location of North Park
• the city was renamed Provo in 1850 for Étienne Provost, an early French-Canadian trapper/mountainman who arrived in the region in 1825 and was the first white man to discover both Salt Lake and Utah Lake; He is mentioned under the name Provost, Proveau, and Provot. He established a trading post on the shores of Utah Lake.
• called “Garden City” for its many fruit orchards and farms; also the industrial center of Utah (woolen mills, brickyards, silk, etc.)

Utah County Courthouse

50 South University

• the 3rd courthouse in Provo
• construction began in spring of 1919 and was completed in fall 1926 for a cost of $546,493.30 (about $7M today)
• designed by Joseph Nelson of Provo in the popular conservative academic tradition of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts or Neoclassic style
• The major inconsistency in his design, in terms of Classical usage, is the alternation of Doric and Ionic orders between the pavilions and main body of the building.
• "The building is a courthouse, therefore, quite consistently, Justice stands with her balances resting upon the law, in one hand, and with her sword in the other.  The building is also to house the city and county offices, therefore, on the right hand of Justice sits a woman representing the County, supporting with one hand a shield bearing the inscription, 'County of Utah' and in the other a cornucopia, or horn of plenty, overflowing with the good things produced in the region.  Then the various arts and industries are represented at her side.  Her horticulture is represented by the fruit trees; her dairying and stock raising by the front quarters of an animal projecting beyond the tree; her lining by the pick and shovel at the side of the tunnel entrance to the mine in the mountain; and further down, her sheep raising and poultry farming, respectively. On the other side of Justice sits likewise Provo City, enthroned and supporting a shield with the inscription 'City of Provo,' emblazoned thereon.  She is flanked by the hard and viol, the vase, the cogwheel, a stack of books, and an artist's palette; these represent her arts, her industries, and her educational advantages." Quote from Joseph Nelson, the architect about the scultpural figures in the central pediment

Williams D. Alexander House (c. 1891)

91 West 200 South

• The William D. Alexander House (built ca. 1891) is significant as the only documented example of Stick Style domestic architecture in Utah.  The Stick Style is characterized by decorative horizontal, vertical, and diagonal boards applied to wooden houses to suggest or symbolize the structural frame.  The style was popular throughout the United States during the late nineteenth century, being one of the prevailing designs in house pattern books of the 1870s and 80s.
• The house was built by William Denton Alexander, a well-known contractor/builder, who was locally active as a City Councilman, Justice of the Peace, and member of the Provo School Board.
  
  

Original Provo Tabernacle, built 1867

 Provo's Two Tabernacles

• most early church structures were mandated by top church officials but funding and construction were left to the individual members in the area; church position often counted more than actual architectural knowledge
• first tabernacle started in 1852, dedicated August 24, 1867, 81 x 47 feet, Greek Revival adobe brick walls broken by quoins, octagonal tower and belfry with large bell, covered in plaster
• at its dedication Brigham Young said, “this house should have been built twelve years ago, and now it is entirely too small”
• it was torn down in 1919 and its bricks were sold to members of the community; the bricks found their way into garages, farm buildings and horses
• new tabernacle was begun in 1883 and it took 13 years to complete; dedicated April 17, 1898
• General Conference was held in the unfinished Provo tabernacle twice -- April 1886 and October 1887-- because most of the church leaders for hiding out from authorities in SLC for polygamy

• 

  Second Provo Tabernacle, c.1900
  

  the architect was William Folsom, who was living in Manti and was working on the temple there, when church leaders in Provo asked him to pattern their new Provo tabernacle after the Salt Lake Assembly Hall.
• Folsom obliged by adopting a similar galleried-cruciform plan with a prominent rostrum-choir area. But he made certain noticeable changes. First, it was twenty feet longer and ten feet wider than the Salt Lake Assembly Hall and its corner towers give it a more imposing presence. He used an equal number of bays on each side of the transept arms.
• of Gothic influence but following the “Protestant Plain Style”; cruciform plan, octagonal turrets, gothic features like pointed arches, buttresses, an attention to light and verticality
• A number of significant changes were made to the Provo Tabernacle in 1917. The most noticeable was the elimination of the crossing-tower. Its removal, because of structural inadequacies (causing the roof to sag), iit eliminated one of the most popular attractions in town, as people were able to get a commanding view of Utah Valley from its promenade.
• The removal of the tower led to a reconfiguration of the ceiling and the replacement of the original frosted- for stained glass windows. 
  

Union Block, 1975

Commercial Architecture of the 19th Century

Most 19th century commercial buildings are two or three stories in height, with a flat roof and a variety of ornamental detailing. The "textbook" store front has a recessed central entrance flanked by large display windows with kickplates, clerestories, and transoms. The primary or roofline cornice is often bracketed with parapets, finials, or simple decorative panels. There is sometimes a secondary cornice separating the first two floors, which sometimes repeat the pattern of the upper cornice. Windows on the upper floors are generally smaller than the display windows on the first floor and are usually decorated with molded surrounds, radiating voussoirs, or plain lintels. Some of the most ornate 19th century commercial structures feature cast iron facades. These and other buildings had Italianate features particularly at the cornice.

First National Bank of Provo

2 West Center

• Businessmen Abraham O. Smoot (yup, same guy the ASB on campus is named after) organized the First National Bank of Provo in 1882 and constructed their first building on this site in 1884. In 1894 the Provo Commercial and Savings Bank took over First National.
• Provo Commercial and Savings constructed this building in 1904.
• Like the Knight Block, the architect for this building was Richard C. Watkins. The new bank resembles the Knight Block and is late Richardson Romanesque-Commercial. The ground level has been altered, eliminating a large arched window. Look especially for the capitals on the free standing and engauged columns. They have some of the finest hand carved masonry work in Provo. The carving, which are also Richardson Romanesque inspired, include Gothic creatures and naturalistic designs such as leaves. The second level has remained essentially intact.
• Richard Charles Watkins (August 22, 1858-April 9, 1941) was an immigrant from Bristol, England, In 1890 he came to Provo, Utah as a construction supervisor, and opened his own firm in 1892. When he left nearly 20 years later he had become the most prominent architect south of Salt Lake City, Utah.
• His works include designing over 240 schools in the intermountain west of the United States. He also designed businesses ( Knight Block Building, First National Bank of Provo), eight Carnegie libraries (Provo, Cedar City, Manti, Garland, Richmond, Ephraim, Eureka, Richfield), churches (Provo Third Ward Chapel and Amusement Hall, Spring City Chapel, and homes (Knight-Allen House, Thomas N. Taylor House).

104 W Center - Nuskin

• This is the oldest continuously operating drug store in Provo—built by one of Provo's most notorious early entrepreneurs, Russel S. Hines.

• This structure is in two parts—both of which are articulated with different windows, cornice, and ornamental treatments to give the appearance of separate structures.
• The string of narrow tall windows have been either filled in, covered over, or removed.
• At Hines death his drug store continued in operation, managed by the Hedquist Brothers (Charles and Alex). It eventually became a Hedquist Drug Store managed by Alex, another of Provo's successful and important merchants.

198 W Center - Mrs HW Davis’ millinery shop during the 1890s

• The H. W. Davis Milinery Co., which built this building, was but one of many in Provo, but it w.as the largest and most long-lived
• In 1890 Henry W. Davis constructed a building to house the H. W. Davis Milinery Company. The Milliner was his wife, Rachel. The Davis family lived in the upper floor of the building. Their daughters, Maude and Vera, also became milliners and continued the business with their mother for many years.

Taylor Brothers Furniture and Department Store

250 West Center

• 1866- Taylor Brothers Store opened for business. They sold furniture initially, adding a music department in 1872, floor coverings in 1875, and stoves and hardware in 1888.
• Constructed in 1890 during a time of an expansion of the Taylor family's furniture business and during an economic boom in Provo. Building contractors, rather than an architect, probably designed the building. While mainly utilitarian, the facade has a highly ornamented skin articulated in shallow relief by decorative brickwork. Taylor constructed a three story building on the east in 1902 which doubled the floor space.
• Architectural details--especially the windows on the second and third floors--tied the buildings together. In 1911 the business added a three story building on the west. Taylor hired Joseph Nelson, the only formally trained architect in Provo. Nelson duplicated the Commercial Style of the 1902 building and added details that tied all three buildings together. The 1911 design of Taylor Brothers Co. represented the most sophisticated example of commercial architecture in the city at the time due to its sensitive combination of historic forms with current styles.
•  Motivated by his love of history and vision of the building's potential, Provo businessman William Bancroft purchased the Taylor Brothers Building in 1994 and restored it to its former glory.
 

 

Provo City Center Building      

351 West Center

• 1968 - city voters approve new city center, to be built on the original site of Provo High School; the high school was torn down in the 1960s and re-located to its current location
• 1972 - building is finished
• now it houses the Mayor’s Office, City Council Office, Community Development Dept, Parks & Rec Dept HR Dept, Finance Dept, Police Dept, Fire Dept, Legal Dept

Provo West Cooperative

450 West Center

• Built circa 1866 and remodeled circa 1890, this building is historically significant as the oldest extant example of the first stores that were developed in the cooperative merchandizing movement sponsored by the Mormon Church.
• The building is comprised of a two story flat roof building with a brick exterior and an adobe and wood interior core.
• Prior to the Provo West Co-op going out of business, a nineteenth century commercial facade was added to the store (circa 1890). 
  

480 W. Center St.

(Formerly the Blumenthal Plumbing building, now demolished)

• More than just a street number, the old Blumenthal Plumbing building, built in 1917, at one time was a mixed-use facility with studio apartments on the top floors and robust businesses like the Real Bread Company, and most recently the Roasted Artichoke Restaurant on the main floor.
• Many clues about the building's former design and purpose can be seen on the side of the West Co-op, which once shared its wall with the Blumenthal Building.

Provo Third Ward Chapel and Amusement Hall

105 North 500 West

• the original seminary building (built in mid-1850s) originally stood to the left
• 1903; The Third Ward Meetinghouse is one of the earliest English Parish Gothic churches in Utah and one of the most architecturally significant church buildings in Utah County.
• The building was designed by Richard Watkins, whose work was popular throughout Utah at the turn-of-the century.
• An amusement hall was added to the building in 1913.
• The exciting exterior of the chapel features a tall, imposing vestry tower at the southeast corner of the chapel. The tower is one of the most finely detailed in the state. It has a large, Roman-arched bay above which are thick and tall rectangular windows with red sandstone lintels; then a course of corbeled brickwork; a brick panel with the building inscription engraved in stone in the east side; four pairs of tall, Roman-arched, open-air bays which serve as the belfry; more corbeled courses, and finally, decorative wood molding at the base of a two-tiered, segmented, conical steeple which is finished off with a metal weathervane. Another feature of the tower is its corner buttressing.
• It features a huge Roman bay within which is a beautiful Roman window which has five delicate Gothic-arched mullions and ornate lead-framed and stained glass panes.

St. Francis Catholic Church (now demolished)

172 North 500 West

• This building was constructed between 1923 and 1936 and was the only known Mission Style structure in Provo City. The building’s long, rectangular plan, heavy and massive stucco walls, belfries, curvilinear gable, string course, and red tile roof, are characteristic of this style. 
• The Provo area, located some fifty miles south of Salt Lake City, was first visited by two spanish Franciscan Fathers, Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante, in 1776. Built in the Spanish Mission Style and still operated by the Franciscan Fathers of Utah, this Catholic Church is a unique symbol of the community’s early history.
• The Catholic church in Provo outgrew the building and moved into a new building in Orem. The old church was torn down in 2007 to make way for new condominiums, but the deal fell through and the condos were never constructed. Now, a large hole sits where this beautiful church used to stand.

 

William D. Roberts House

212 North 500 West

• Built about 1875, the William Roberts House is architecturally significant as one of about fourteen early two-story vernacular house in Provo. This house is a one-of-a-kind example among those early houses. It is the best preserved example in Provo of a house that displays the traditional form and Greek Revival detailing of the pioneer period while concurrently reflecting the increased verticality of the early Victorian influence in Utah.

George Taylor Jr. House
187 North 400 West

• This house was built in the 1880s. 
• The George Taylor Jr. House is a one-and-a-half story brick structure on a rubble stone foundation. It is a gable roof, cross wing, vernacular house type with Gothic Revival styling. The cross wing plan is a version of the modified temple plan made popular by the Greek Revival. It was a common plan available to the nineteenth century builder and one propagated through house pattern books to which decorative ornament from any of the prevailing styles was individually or eclectically applied. Carpenter Gothic and Eastlake trim add lacy, intricate ornament to this simple house plan. The house is distinguished as one of only three existing examples in Provo that exhibit the influence of Gothic Revival residential architecture as applied to vernacular house forms. 
• It also has a unique combination of Classical quoins and round arched windows. An addition was made to the back of the house about 1910 and other minor alterations were made during a 1970s restoration project. This cross wing form house has a gabled wing perpendicular to the main house body. The gable facade is moderately narrow and gives a Gothic feeling of verticality in its two story height with its tall, moderately steeply pitched central pendant. This same decoration is repeated in the center gable of the broadside of the cross wing and its end gable. Both gable ends are pierced by double-hung sash windows are divided by muntins into four lights each. The casing and slipsills are painted white, as is the wooden trim on the rest of the house (National Park Service p. 1)."