10 Utah buildings we miss

Utahns rightly point with pride to many of their buildings and monuments, but what about the ones that are gone? There are many places where beautiful and interesting buildings are no more.

Sometimes all that remains is guilt that they were torn down (see the Social Hall Museum on State Street for example).

Others are remembered in fondness (like Saltair on the Great Salt Lake). Still others are almost forgotten.

Here is a sampling of some of some interesting ghosts of the past, rescued from the archives of the Deseret News by photo historian Ron Fox.

1. The old Salt Palace.

No, this isn't the old basketball stadium. The stadium was really Salt Palace II. The convention center is Salt Palace III. The original, sprayed with salt crystals to reflect the sun, was located at 900 South between State St. and Main and burned down in 1910. It had a theater and dances were held there.

2. The Centre Theatre

The Centre Theatre survived more than 50 years at 300 South and State Street before falling to the new Broadway Centre development in the late 1980s. The 1,200-seat theater opened on Dec. 24 1937 and was one of Salt Lake City's few examples of Art Deco architecture. Movie economics changed and spelled the doom of large theaters like the Centre.

3. Knutsford Hotel

The Knutsford Hotel, on the northeast corner of State Street and 300 South, is probably best known as the place where the Salt Lake Chamber (then called the Commercial Club) was organized in 1902. Whenever prominent people came to Salt Lake City, in the early 1900s, their names were listed in the newspaper's society pages as staying at the Knutsford.

4. Garfield Beach

Garfield Beach on the south shore of the Great Salt Lake was a pavilion for swimming and where you could catch the steamboat "City of Corrine" to take you to, well, Corrine. Saltair eclipsed it in grandeur and popularity so much so that people are surprised to learn of Garfield's existence.

5. The Deseret Store and Tithing Offices

Right where the Joseph Smith Memorial Building now stands was the Deseret Store where the Deseret News had its headquarters for decades.

6. The Gardo House

The Gardo House, later nicknamed "Amelia's Palace," was across the street from the Lion House on the southwest corner of South Temple and State. It was built in the 1870s to be an official residence of LDS Church President Brigham Young. The nickname came from his wife, Amelia Folsom Young, who was to be its hostess. But with the death of President Young, that never happened. It was used by the church, but eventually sold in 1901 to Colonel Edwin F. Holmes and his wife, Susanna Bransford Emery Holmes, who was known as the "Silver Queen." When the Colonel bought the mansion, he brought 20 decorators from Marshall Fields in Chicago to fit it out. But the mansion did not last much longer, according to Utah History to Go. The building's reign ended on November 26, 1921 when it was torn down to build a bank.

7. The Hall of Relics

July 14, 1897 was the official opening of the Pioneer Hall of Relics, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the pioneers entering the valley. People could pay 25 cents to see the wagon Brigham Young rode and other pioneer artifacts.

It was located on the southwest corner of South Temple and Main across from Temple Square. After the anniversary, people wondered what to do with the building. Eventually, the Deseret News built a building on the site, but even that building is now gone.

8. Salt Lake Temple Annex