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In June of 2018, Brigham Young University announced that the 
institution would demolish the 1939 Tudor style Amanda Knight Hall, the first women’s dorm building ever constructed by the University. After hearing this news, Preservation Utah partnered with Provo’s Historic Commission, the Utah Cultural Alliance, and with other community groups to save the building. After months of advocacy, BYU put Amanda Knight Hall on the market to see if it would sell. Thankfully, the building quickly sold to developers who now plan to restore it and return it to serve as student housing.
John R. Park School (1912)
12441 South 900 East in Draper, Utah
It’s a moment we’ve been working up to for four years, and we’re pleased to say that we’ve been successful as a key actor in a nationwide coalition effort to preserve the 20% federal historic tax credit through the tax reform process. Passed this week by both houses of Congress and expected to be signed into law today by the President, Senator Orrin Hatch played a major role as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in the bill’s passage. Representative Rob Bishop also played an important role as a member of the Conference Committee that reconciled House and Senate versions of the bill.
Please reach out and thank Senator Hatch and Representative Bishop for retaining the historic tax credit.
Keeping the HTC as a permanent part of the tax code is a significant victory for the preservation community—especially considering that the first House version eliminated the credit. And we were on the front lines, albeit behind the scenes. Preservation Utah’s work included:
- Providing the Utah Congressional delegation with detailed information on the impact of the program in Utah,
- Building relationships within Senator Orrin Hatch’s office for greater understanding of the impact of the historic tax credit,
- Building a collective advocacy effort through partner organizations, developers, architects, and interested individuals,
- Authoring and coordinating op-ed pieces,
- Generating support from Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski that resulted in her signing on to a national mayor’s letter supporting the credit, and personal calls to the delegation.
Our action shows that our advocacy works. It’s not the most interesting thing we do. It’s more intangible than saving a building. But the result here is that hundreds of buildings will potentially be saved through advocacy that retained the single most effective incentive for rehabilitation in the historic tax credit.
Updates that have come with the revised federal historic tax credit include the following:
- The HTC will now include a five-year vesting period, which means that the credit will not be available up front and instead will need to be spread out over five years.
- The 10% credit for non-historic structures pre-dating 1936 has been eliminated.
Photo shows the interior of the Old Post Office in Ogden. Rehabilitation would not have been possible without the historic tax credit.
Related: One Pager on the Utah State Historic Tax Credit and its benefits.
Hyrum Jensen Mansion (c. 1900)
774 East 2100 South, Salt Lake City
After two years of grassroots, community led opposition, the property owners of the five historic homes at Lincoln Street and 200 South have had their request for a denser rezone denied by the Salt Lake City Council on March 16, 2021. The rezone would have resulted in the definite demolition of five homes that are all over 100 years old and part of the Salt Lake City East Side Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
As a historic preservation organization, we value the history and character these buildings contribute to the fabric of Salt Lake City. At a national level, they are a part of the Salt Lake City East Side Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, making them notable but providing them no protections. Beyond the innate values these buildings hold for the community's heritage, historic homes offer naturally occurring affordable housing. Adding new market-rate apartments (often called 'Luxury') will only provide more expensive housing options. In addition, the destruction of five historic homes and the building of three new structures will only result in more materials going to the landfill. Per SLC Zoning, "The purpose of the R-2 single and two-family residential district is to preserve and protect for single-family dwellings the character of existing neighborhoods which exhibit a mix of single- and two-family dwellings by controlling the concentration of two-family dwelling units." The proposed plan would destroy occupied historic properties within a National Historic District, increase rental rates, create more waste, and damage the character and makeup of the current neighborhood.
Tax Credits: Since these properties fall within a National Historic District and are both residential and income producing, they may qualify for both State and Federal Historic Tax Credits. That could be up to a 40% tax credit towards rehabilitation!
For more on the history and individual stories of these wonderful homes, make sure to check out @rachels_slc_history Instagram profile.
More questions or want to get more involved? Reach out to community organizers at or text/call 801-382-7144
Utah Main Street Program Information
What is the Main Street Program? It pairs preservation-based economic development with community driven, comprehensive downtown revitalization.
Why Main Street? In Utah, we lack a coordinated, efficient, and productive MainStreet revitalization initiative. A cohesive Main Street Approach would provide a state-supported downtown revitalization framework that’s locally-driven and implemented and that can serve all types of Utah communities, big and small alike. More here.
Positive Outcomes: The program enables a wide range of success metrics, such as raised property values, increased local tax revenue, stabilized historic districts, job growth and creation, rehabilitated buildings, decreased vacancies, and public and private investment.
Ogden High School (1937)
2828 Harrison Blvd., Ogden
New Development Underway at Historic Trolley Square
700 East at 500 South, SLC
As a powerful symbol of Utah's justice system, the Utah State Penitentiary in Draper is an architectural complex that engages and implicates us all. Its history should be better known then is the history of its predecessor, once located where Sugar House Park exists today. Like the Sugar House Prison, the Draper Prison is lined up to disappear before the public has a chance to experience or really understand this resource.
Preservation Utah wants to see public tours of the historic prison core occur before it is demolished. That being said, we continue to believe these historic prison buildings have great redevelopment potential (see Salt Lake's Granary District for how buildings once classified as "throw-away" are being adaptively reused). At the very least, we wish to see the prison's chapel be saved. Not only does this chapel have a rich history of its own, but it serves as a reminder of the complicated history (good, bad, and everything in-between) of the Draper prison site.
More information:
Articles Discussing the Utah State Penitentiary Chapel:
- Department of Corrections: Religious Services and Volunteer Information
- 1999, Church News: 'I was in Prison'
- 2013, Deseret News: Prison Volunteers want Draper Facility to Stay Put as a Beacon of Hope
- 2017, City Weekly: Inmate Blues
- 2017, Church Hopping in Utah: Mass in Prison
- 2017, Salt Lake Tribune: Chris Stewart Town Hall Meeting in Prison
- 2020, Salt Lake Tribune: Historic parts of Utah prison shouldn’t get torn down, groups argue
- 2022, Salt Lake Tribune: Why aren’t parts of Utah’s prison being saved for history’s sake?