Biography of a building

In early photos of Salt Lake City, a tall sandstone building on the northwest corner of Main and 100 South watches over parades and celebrations. Its quiet elegance is a contrast to noisy street cars and the hustle and bustle of early 20th century life. It speaks of the progress and affluence of that long-ago era.

That building is still there. Now known as the Crandall Building, it has survived more than a century of change all around it and remains a vibrant business and office center in the heart of the city. Its life cycle, its biography are closely linked to that of the city itself.

"One of the best things about the building has always been its location," said Robert E. Crandall, who has owned and managed the building for the past 50 years. "We're a choice one block from the Salt Lake Temple, close to two prominent malls. The downtown activity has helped maintain the viability of the building. If it had been on 400 or 500 South, it might have disappeared."

The seven-story building was built by William S. McCornick between 1890 and 1892 and was Utah's "first skyscraper."

Before dependable electricity came to Salt Lake City, office building tenants weren't willing to walk up more than four flights of stairs, notes David H. Epperson, a son-in-law of Crandall, and with Epperson & Rencher Law Offices, which has made the Crandall Building its headquarters for the past six years. "Mr. McCornick's seven-story office building incorporated both gas and electric features that could power two large elevators," said Epperson, who has been researching the building's history.

The building, constructed of local Kyune sandstone and brick, is one of Salt Lake's few surviving commercial buildings from the building boom that preceded the Panic of 1893, which curtailed a lot of expansion and activity. McCornick brought in Omaha architects Mendlessohn, Fisher & Laurie to draw up the plans. Salt Lake builder William Pinney oversaw construction.

It was even then an historic corner of downtown. The first building on that location was a home and post office built by early pioneer Willard Richards. As downtown became less residential and more commercial, the corner was used by a freighting and merchant firm and later by a grocery and hardware firm.

McCornick, who was by that time a wealthy businessman and financier, bought the corner in 1888 for $72,500, a price that was, according to news reports, "considered of great magnitude and occasioned some astonishment."