There's no place like home

Every home can tell a story of lives and loves and sorrows and joys that have played out between its walls.

But some seem to have an extra measure of home-grown spirit. "From the moment you walk in, you feel a strong, good energy," says Julie Shipman, who lives on a quiet stretch of Douglas Street with her husband, James, and sons, Peter, Hank and Jack. "That's how it was with this house."

Their home is one of the residences on this year's Utah Heritage Foundation Historic Homes Tour, scheduled for Saturday.

When the Shipmans moved to Salt Lake City from Denver a few years ago, they bought a big, new house in the Capitol Park area. But, says Julie, "it didn't feel homey." She wanted a place with sidewalks and a back yard where her boys could throw a ball without chasing it down the mountain. She wanted a place where they could walk to school and a neighborhood that offered diversity.

"My friend Connie Barnhart was living in this house, and I came to visit her. I told her this was just the kind of house I wanted." The Barnharts had a five-year plan and hoped to move to Park City, "but she called a week later and said they had decided to move now and did I want the house?"

Since moving in, she says, "I'm happier and richer. I have no interest in ever moving again. It's not a showy home. It's not grandiose. It just feels good."

The house was built for Joseph Fielding and Ethel G. Reynolds Smith in 1925. They had bought the land in Gilmer Park in 1921, the same year he had been appointed LDS Church historian, and they planned to build a home in the then-popular Colonial Revival style to accommodate their growing family of 10 children.

A biography of Joseph Fielding Smith written by Francis Gibbons tells how the family watched the progress of the home's construction. An evening ride from their home on Salt Lake City's west side usually ended on Douglas Street to see what new features had been added.

By the time the family moved in, Joseph Fielding had been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve for 15 years.

At that time, Douglas Smith was a year old. The Smiths sold the home in 1954, just after Douglas left home, so it was the only home of his early life, says Douglas, who still lives in Salt Lake City.

Another child was born to the Smiths in 1927, but a few months later, the oldest daughter married, so all 11 children were not in the home for long. Following the death of Ethel in 1937, Joseph Fielding married Jessie Evans, much noted for her music. So that brought other changes to the household.

Overall, says Douglas, "it was a very good place to grow up. The neighborhood wasn't as built up, so there were some great places to play where we could dig tunnels and put Tarzan swings in the trees."