Tag Archives: Salt Lake City historic buildings

29th Ward Building Rezone Hearing Postponed

At last month’s Council meeting (Dec. 4th) the City’s Planning and Housing and Neighborhood (HAND) Divisions began its presentation on the proposal to change the zoning designation of 29th LDS Ward House with the announcement that City staff was not seeking Community Council action that evening because they wanted to return in January with more concrete plans for the property.

Several days ago, the Planning Division notified the Fairpark Community Council that the City is not prepared to continue its presentation this month, that “more time is needed to develop plans for the site. The petition will not go before the Planning Commission until the revised plans have been presented at a future Fairpark Community Council meeting.”

29th Ward interior Currently, the 29th Ward property, a .80 acre lot at 1102 West 400 North, is zoned R-1/7000, as is most of the Fairpark Community – single residences on lots no smaller that 7000 square feet. The City wants to rezone the old building and property as R-MU-35 – a residential area that allows 30 units per acre, plus the possibility that some lots can be used for commercial purposes.

For a hundred years, the old 29th LDS Ward House has been an iconic structure in what is now known as the Fairpark Community. In the 1980s, the LDS Church donated the building to Salt Lake City to be used to house various programs serving the City’s refugee population. Unfortunately, a fire in 1983 gutted part of the building’s interior, creating a serious challenge maintaining the building’s usefulness. And, since the early 1990s, the building has been vacant – boarded up and an eyesore for the community. (See the article on the history of this building here.).29th Ward 1920

In the initial letter from the Mayor’s Office to the Planning Commission requesting the the zoning change, the administration emphasized its philosophy of making “adaptive” reuse of historic buildings in the City. In this regard, the City has applied to have the old 29th Ward House listed in the National Historical Registry. The building is already listed on the City’s registry of significant historical and cultural landmarks; but the federal designation will make the building eligible for tax credits and other resources for repair and restoration efforts.

But in the initial presentation by Michael Akerlow, Director of the City’s Housing and Neighbor Development Division, at the Fairpark Council’s December meeting, the City’s goal of creating more “diverse and affordable” was emphasized. In the evening’s discussion, the City was unwilling to commit to any specific plan, however the idea of building new residential units on the parking lot north of the building and creating residential units in the old building was raised.

It seemed that the City’s position is that, without federal money/tax-credits to cover part of the cost for the rehab of the old church along with the revenue new housing units from the construction of new residences (condos or apartments) to help pay for the rehab of the church , the property will not be attractive to developers.

The old 29th LDS Ward House is both a treasure and scourge. In its dilapidated state today, it reflects negatively on the larger community. On the other hand, its basic structure, a hundred years old, is attractive as an icon of this community’s history.

For decades, residents of what is now the Fairpark Community have fought, via Master Plans and Zoning Maps, to the protect the residential nature of our neighborhoods. With the City’s proposal to change the zoning designation of the 29th Ward Building, the community is confronted with a choice: allow high density development to restore a historic building or allow the property to continue to deteriorate.

29th LDS Ward House: 100 Years

by Steve Johnson, Fairpark Community Council Chair

Photo1910This photo, taken around 1910, shows an isolated church in a bare field with a dirt road to the side. This early image of the 29th LDS Ward House shows a building that is, today, the vacant, boarded up Ward House we see at 1102 West 400 North.

Construction of the building began one hundred years ago, 1904, to provide a place of worship and social activities for the 29th LDS ward, organized in 1902.

As stated in the 1982 application to have the building listed in the Salt Lake City Register for Cultural Resources, “The twenty-ninth ward served as an entertainment and social activities hub for the northwest community, which was undeveloped and scattered until the early 1950s.”

This role was demonstrated with the 1925 construction of a wing that included a recreation room and the 1926 purchase of two 35-millimeter film projectors. As stated in the 1982 application, with this purchase “the ward became a particular focus for entertainment, especially during the Depression years….”

By the early 1980s, the building was vacant; its role as an LDS Ward House had ended.

The vacant Ward House returned to serving the community when the LDS Church donated it to house the New Hope Multicultural Center. The New Hope Center was established in 1985 by Betty North – a long-time volunteer who worked with refugees. Her vision of the center was one of a place where refugees, many of them living in what is now the Fairpark Community, could get food assistance, clothing, and household items. Old Sunday school rooms were now sites for English as a second language and other classes on skills to help refugees integrate into Utah society.

In September 1986, just one month shy of its first year anniversary, the organization experienced a serious set-back when a fire damaged several rooms and the materials in them. Betty North vowed to keep programs going, and she did; but the fire damage added to people’s realization that the cost of operating and maintaining the old building was going to be a major challenge.

This old Ward House did more than just house the New Hope Multicultural Center. For a number of years, it was the headquarters of the Wasatch Fish and Garden Program – today’s Wasatch Community Gardens. Back then, the organization focused on several large community gardens and ran the fish co-op. A couple of times a month, the parking lot would fill with people, mostly refugees, holding buckets. When it was their turn, live carp that had been netted in Utah Lake, would be scooped up from large tanks and poured into each person’s bucket.

For several years, it was the first Westside location for a Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) food program clinic.

And 29th Ward House again became a place of worship as several refugee groups conducted church services in their own languages, continuing the religious practices they had left in their homelands.

The Ward House recreation hall also provided space for dances, celebrations of holidays observed in home countries and other social events.

With the involvement of many volunteers, the donation of food and household supplies, especially from the LDS Church, and small grants, the New Hope Multicultural Center continued to serve the community’s refugee populations well into the 1990s.

In the end, many of the services offered by the New Hope Multicultural Center were being provided by other organizations receiving government grants. The burden of keeping the old Ward House functioning was also simply overwhelming the organization’s finances. As a result, in the 1990s, the 29th Ward House became vacant once again and the property remained owned by Salt Lake City.

It also appears that the 29th Ward House’s story might not yet be over. As noted elsewhere, the City is hoping to change the property’s zoning designation from R-1/7000 (residential) to R-MU-35 (mixed use – commercial and residential). The City is also preparing an application to have the building listed in the National Historic Registry.

According to the City, both of the above actions are intended to make the building more attractive to developers.

Fairpark Community residents should plan to attend the public hearing on December 4th and contribute to the next chapter of the 29th Ward House.