Kearns Building
Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kearns Building is a historic office building in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).[1]
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Salt Lake City, Utah
United States
Kearns Building | |
Kearns Building, May 2019 | |
   | |
| Location | 132 South Main Street Salt Lake City, Utah United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°45′58″N 111°53′27″W |
| Area | 0 acres (0 ha) |
| Built | 1909 |
| Built by | George Curley |
| Architect | Parkinson & Bergstrom |
| Architectural style | Late 19th And Early 20th Century American Movements, Sullivanesque |
| MPS | Salt Lake City Business District MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 82004145[1] |
| Added to NRHP | August 17, 1982 |
Description
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The 10-story building was designed by Los Angeles architects John Parkinson and George Bergstrom and constructed 1909–1911. Parkinson & Bergstrom borrowed the style of architect Louis Sullivan, and the Kearns Building has been described as Sullivanesque, with a steel reinforced concrete frame and a white terracotta tile facade emphasizing vertical piers below a prominent cornice. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[2]
The style of a Louis Sullivan skyscraper was built on classical form, with prominent window and door openings at street level, bands of windows between vertical piers, and a distinctive, highly decorated cornice. Often Sullivan designed porthole windows under a cornice.[3] Parkinson & Bergstrom used centered medallions between spandrels recessed behind the plane of piers to achieve a similar appearance.[2]
The Kearns Building was named for Thomas Kearns, a wealthy former Utah senator and major stockholder in The Salt Lake Tribune. During construction of the building, Kearns was accused of manipulating the city council and its building code.[4]
A third of office space in the building was rented prior to opening in February, 1911,[5] and most of the offices were rented by April of that year.[6] Early tenants of the building included clothiers Gardner & Adams Co.[7] and Rowe & Kelly,[8][9] and the building included what was billed as "the most beautiful buffet in the United States," the Mecca.[10]
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Salt Lake City
- Aberdeen Quarry, the source of granite used for the first-floor columns and entrance archway
- Chicago school (architecture)
