New life for old buildings

Before Madison Briggs ever saw the townhouse, she knew it was in a building that was more than 100 years old. If she ended up renting the place, she figured, her traditional furniture would look just fine.

Briggs is an artist and believes that every space has its own personality. The words "National Historic Register" conjured an image of how the townhouse might present itself.

But then she went inside the Artspace City Center, at 230 S. 500 West. Walking through the door, she did not find herself thinking, "the original ZCMI warehouse" or "welcome to the dry goods depot of yesteryear."

Instead, standing in the space that would become her home, her painting studio and her gallery, Briggs found herself thinking, "urban contemporary." As in vibrant. The word "streamlined" also came to mind.

She eventually got rid of most of her old furniture in favor of chrome and glass. She accented her rooms with bright colors including tangerine orange, apple green and teal blue. Every month on Gallery Stroll night, hundreds of people troop through her three-story home. They look at her paintings — and also at the decor. One woman scrawled a note on a napkin and left it for Briggs to find: "Just want you to know, you are living my dream."

Briggs' home/gallery will be one of the stops this year on the Utah Heritage Foundation's annual historic tour. The title of the tour is "Downtown Reborn." It features seven buildings in the Gateway/Warehouse District of Salt Lake City, seven buildings that have been restored and adapted to house modern businesses or residences.

This year the Heritage celebration is much expanded. The tour will be part of a larger conference, a three-day event that features speeches and an awards dinner as well as a series of classes to be held on Friday at Fort Douglas.

Speakers include Paul Goldberger, "Sky Line" columnist for The New Yorker magazine; Barbara Handy Pahl, a regional director with the National Trust for Historic Preservation; and David Harris Hart, director of the Utah State Capitol Preservation Board. The classes include workshops for homeowners, updates on advocacy, as well as discussions on sustainability, Main Street rehab, and funding and tax credits.

The theme of the Utah Preservation Conference is "Preservation Builds Communities." The basic cost for the entire conference is $150, with individual classes for as little as $10 each. The tour alone is $20. (Discounts for Utah Heritage Foundation members. Call 533-0858 for details.)