Eerie display calls attention to Provo demolitions

PROVO — It's been more than three years since the Hotel Roberts put anyone up for the night. But Thursday 14 ghostly guests bedded down where the historic Provo landmark once stood.

The translucent figures, lounging on beds of string and sticks, were part of a site-specific art exhibit created to remind residents of what used to occupy the now-barren lot at 192 S. University Ave.

"The sad thing about losing these historical structures is they get forgotten," said artist Ryan Neely, owner of the downtown Mode Boutique. "I think when you have beautiful architecture like that it should be preserved."

Neely, who graduated from Brigham Young University this month with a degree in fine arts, said he was shocked when the city tore down the 121-year-old building without warning in 2004. The hotel was once considered the social center of Provo and played host to high-profile guests such as Helen Keller.

The similar demolition of the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church earlier this year continued what Neely called a "frightening trend" of disregard for Provo's architectural history. Both Spanish mission-style buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places before they were torn down.

"I think the manner in which the buildings were destroyed is pretty scary and there's no laws or legislation to prevent it from happening in the future," he said. "I'm pretty passionate about the city I live in. I want to preserve its beauty."

The exhibit wasn't designed to point fingers, though. Neely's goal was to create something that would make people think.

He wanted residents to be just as surprised to see his sculptures as they were to discover that the Hotel Roberts had been torn down, so he set up the beds in the middle of the night.

The bodies, which were made of Saran Wrap and packing tape, were meant to represent sleeping hotel guests, but their mummy-like positioning was morbidly ambiguous.

When Sidney Smith, who manages the nearby Provo Travel Lodge, spotted Neely and his friends setting up the exhibit, he thought they were unloading real corpses from their truck.

"It really looked like dead bodies the way they were holding them," he said. "I was thinking, 'What's going on here?' I almost called the police."

Someone did call 911 Friday morning after Neely left. Provo police officer Travis Bushman was dispatched to check out the row of bodies.

"The people in the courthouse across the street were on the verge of evacuation," Bushman said. "I was like, 'No, there's no threat. I don't think those plastic things are going to hurt anyone."'