The Dilution of the History at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City

The block currently housing Trolley Square was previously the site of the L.D.S. Tenth Ward Square, designated by Brigham Young on February 22, 1849 as one of the original nineteen wards in Salt Lake City. Architectural remnants of the Tenth Ward can still be found near the Trolley Square block. According to the historic marker located at 410 South 800 East:

"…only the Tenth Ward Square retains the buildings which served the settlers’ spiritual, economic, cultural and education needs. Still standing are the 1873 meeting house, the first building used exclusively for religious purposes; the third schoolhouse, built in 1887 and one of the earliest known designs of Richard K. Kletting, prominent architect and Mormon immigrant of 1883; the late Gothic Revival church constructed in 1909; and the Tenth Ward store built in 1880."  (1)

The Tenth Ward was originally bounded by Sixth East to the west, the foothills to the east, Third South to the north and Sixth South to the south. The ten-acre block Tenth Ward Sqaure since served as the states’s first fairgrounds and more prominently as the Utah Light and Railway Yard when Union Pacific and Southern Pacific President E. H. Harriman selected the site for a $3.5 million investment to construct the Mission-Style trolley sheds and maintenance buildings in 1908. By 1914, with its state-of-the-art trolley system and network of tracks, more than 144 trolleys served the Salt Lake Valley, and as far north as Bountiful and Centerville, from the site. The system utilized 146 miles of track and was the premier transportation system in the state. With the advent and rapid dissemination of the automobile, however, the trolley lines were phased out and displaced by a more economical and seemingly agile modern bus system in 1945.

By the early 1970s the trolley sheds were in a state of serious neglect, their early prominence and architectural detail disguised by a coat of shameful yellow paint, applied by the Utah Transit Authority and Utah Power and Light Company, co-owners of the block and used as a bus storage facility. (2)

The archaic trolley sheds were saved from demolition in 1972 by local developer Wallace A. Wright, Jr. The iconic structures were scrubbed of the off-putting hues and transformed into a destination market-place, resembling similar adaptive reuse projects such as San Francisco’s Ghiradelli Square and Boston’s Faneuil Hall. Wright’s attention to detail and reuse of architectural elements from turn-of-the-century relics in constructing its stores created a truly unique ambience and would eventually endear the place to the local residents and mark the site as an important historic Salt Lake City icon. Following the renovations, the newly redeveloped Trolley Square was immediately registered as a historic site by the State of Utah in 1973 and later included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. It remains one of the most visited and recognized historic sites in Salt Lake City.

Trolley Square has successfully served the high end retail market since the early 1970s and, more recently, in an effort to maintain its viability and, ironically, in the wake a tragic multiple homicide on February 12, 2007, announced a $60 million dollar expansion including renovation of the existing structure and the additions of nearly 185,000 square feet of space. The expansion required the demolition of the historic Sand House building, located on the northeast side of Trolley Square and which recently housed a Wells Fargo Branch, where the construction of a new 40,000 square foot Whole Foods Store is forcefully underway. The development of the entire Trolley square block is evident as the historic trolley sheds and maintenance buildings progressively recede into the shadows of the larger structures obscuring the views to the historic buildings and into historic site. The loss of the historic Sands Building is evidence of the developer’s economic priority to wring out every possible dollar from the site and their concurrent devaluation of the fragile historic asset.

The lack of creativity on the developer’s part to work within the existing historic context will ultimately diminish the force and success of the project. It will lose its quaint and endearing connection and sense of place with the local residents while its historic character is lost in the struggle with its new oppressive sibling. In a recent article in Salt Lakes alternative newspaper, City Weekly, Alan Barnett, lead reference archivist at the Utah State History Archives, stated in reference to the Trolley Square expansion: “It’s not the end of the world, but it’s one more thing that sort of erodes our community.” (3)

Given the sensitive historic nature of the proposed expansion, the project was scrutinized by the Salt Lake City Landmarks Commission beginning in 2007 as the developers, Trolley Square Associates, LLC, presented plans petitioning the commission for a Certificate of Historic Appropriateness. During the initial meeting, the Historic Landmarks Staff recommended approval of the application with a number of recommendations including, among others, extending the ground level windows on the east elevation of Building C closer to the ground to create a knee wall consistent with the store fronts of the existing buildings, that the parking level of Building C have two cutouts per wall section and that the cutouts are similar in dimension to existing second story windows on the historic buildings, and that the section of wall on the west elevation of Building C include some design feature or artwork that creates a visually interesting terminus to Trolley Lane.

The Landmarks Commission is bound by the Design Guidelines for Residential Historic District in Salt Lake City when reviewing proposed development projects in historic districts. The word “similar” permeates the text in this guiding document as it attempts to describe the architectural relationship between new construction and existing historic buildings. Paradoxically, that same document, in Chapter 11 “New Construction in Historic Districts” states:

"Rather than imitating older buildings, a new design should relate to the fundamental characteristics of the district while also conveying the stylistic trends of today. It may do so by drawing upon basic ways of building that make up a part of the character of an individual historic district. Such features upon which to draw include the way in which a building is located on its site, the manner in which it relates to the street and its basic mass, form and materials. When these design variables are arranged in a new building to be similar to those seen traditionally in the area, visual compatibility results." (4)

However, stylistic trends of today are not deemed compatible and the Landmarks Commission regards compatibility as Post-Modernist folly. The shortsighted views of the Historic Landmarks Commission have diluted the existing historic character at Trolley Square with ‘compatible’ new construction. The site has become a bland and prosaic mix of old and new architecture. New construction in historic districts is so handicapped by compatibility restrictions that there is no conveyance of “stylistic trends of today.” The misguided efforts of local landmark commissions to maintain historic character is at the heart of the loss of that very character.

In an oblique statement from the developer in April 2007, the project was described as retaining “all of the elements that have distinguished it in the past…” (5)  Similarly, Jerry Hunt, co-founder and president of Blake Hunt Ventures, the development partner for Trolley Square Associates LLC stated:

"There’s a lot of emotional attachment to Trolley. What we wanted to do from the very beginning…is not take away from Trolley but really add some other components and dimensions to it. We think it’s a wonderful project and had great ‘bones.’ We just wanted to enhance it and add to it." (6)

Salt Lake's Historic Landmark Commission approved the expansion at Trolley Square at the September 5, 2007 meeting by a 5 to 1 vote and construction began in 2008. In an almost laughable report by the Ogden Standard Examiner under the title: “Trolley Square gets a modern update while still preserving most of the historic feel” the expansion is described in terms of historic compromise:

"Although many residents of Salt Lake City are saddened by the loss of the ability to view the historic architecture from the street, the new construction is, in general, sensitive to the historic landmark as it incorporates many of the historic elements, such as archways, into the architecture of the new buildings. This type of historic compromise is sometimes required in order to keep historic structures viable for modern living."  (7)

There is, in fact, little sensitivity in the design of the Trolley Square expansion. The article continues by describing the requirement by the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission to include “appropriate architectural style of the new buildings to blend appropriately with the historic architecture.” (8)   The appropriate architectural style of the new buildings required by the Landmarks Commission provoked the dilution of the historic mass and scale, materiality, façade elements, rhythm and spacing, and overall architectural character. In a word, the historic buildings no longer possess their idiosyncratic style due to a false and cheap imitation. The white concrete arches of the original entrances to the trolley sheds are shamelessly adapted and copied throughout the project, resembling a throwback to McDonald’s retro-arch. The new buildings are clad in a distressed red brick, one to match the effects of sandblasting, a process imposed on the trolley sheds during the 1970s renovation. The most disturbing element in the development is, ironically, the glorification of the automobile with the new eye-popping semi-circular concrete ramp providing access to the parking structure above the Whole Foods Store. The ramp is sited on the most prominent portion of the site on the corner of 700 East and 500 South and will compete with the iconic water tower in visual prominence. The only elements missing on the ramp are pulsating neon lights. Why the decision was made to park the cars above the store and not to dig out a traditional below grade parking structure is beyond my capacity to imagine. Perhaps it was to display the true nature of the project as a homogenous surburban shopping center, as Alan Barnett feared. The above grade parking structure stinks of a Walmart-like distrust and dislike of existing context. No longer is Trolley Square telling the story of its history as a train shed, but now it is just a glorified automobile shed. As such, Building C, the largest building on the complex is unnecessarily tall at 38 feet 8 inches, with the entrance feature reaching 45 feet. But, keep in mind, it’s not as tall as the existing trolley shed building to the south and, therefore, its compatible. The original hierarchy of the site is, however, completely lost as a result. Whereas, the trolley shed building fronting 700 East was previously the primary building on the site (Building D in developer parlance), Building C has now assumed that role because it is 8 feet longer along 700 east and sits roughly 30 feet closer to 700 East than Building D. Its façade does not in any way continue the consistent rhythm found in Building D, in fact its façade is so disjointed and disconnected, one is left wondering how many designers were involved in drafting the lengthy elevation. At a typical 1/8” architectural scale, it would require three 42” wide sheets to capture that façade.

The Landmarks Commission’s tacit approval of these elements is perplexing. They speak of rhythm and continuity, yet shut their eyes and plug their ears when confronted with the very issue. In all their deliberations, there is little discussion of the façade of Building C and its relation to existing context, especially its relation to the significant historic façade to the south (Building D) and its detrimental impact. As a commission, they were much more concerned with the creation of an interior courtyard and the ‘partially’ intact views of the historic buildings from the surrounding streets.

As requested by the Landmarks Commission, the developer enlisted the help of ZUM LLC, a digital rendering company, to produce images of the final project. (9)  The rich blue sky and the crowds of happy people with their bulging shopping bags inhabiting the site can’t disguise the awkward relation between old and new architecture in the background. In each of the images, there is a messy layering, with the existing structures peering out from behind the bulk of the new, like chained and caged animals. In an evasive manner, the developers never rendered the principal elevation of Building C, the behemoth on 700 East. They were more gracious though in the animation sequence, providing a three second window of the east elevation from a camera positioned on a helicopter doing a high pass about a mile to the north-east.

The expansion project is nothing short of historic encapsulation, an analogical method of abatement for asbestos and lead in historic buildings. By covering the threatening materials with new, the threat is encapsulated and neutralized. There is no difference here, except that what is being covered and obscured is a valuable asset to the community and source of a valuable sense of place. Trolley Square will lose its appeal in the effort to eke out every last dollar from the site. Ironically, the adaptive reuse and preservation of Trolley Square’s viability as a market place in the 1970s will be the lynchpin that assures its eventual destruction, for as they say, “this type of historic compromise is sometimes required in order to keep historic structures viable for modern living.” (10)

1.  http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1417, from inscription on historical marker at 410 South 800 East, Salt Lake City.
2.  General information gathered from: http://www.trolleysquare.com/history.php
3.  http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/print-article-10572-print.html
4.  http://www.slcgov.com/CED/HLC/content/Design_Guidelines_Book.asp
5.  Trolley Square launching renovation Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 12, 2007 by Jenifer K. Nii Deseret Morning News
6.  Trolley Square: Shopping mall is undergoing spiffy $60 million renovation. Brice Wallace Deseret Morning News Published: Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007
7.  Standard Examiner May 12, 2010.
8.  Standard Examiner May 12, 2010.
9.  http://www.zumllc.com/
10.  Standard Examiner May 12, 2010.


© 2010 Steven D. Cornell