Governor's Mansion a stately symbol of style and power

Once the home of one of Utah's wealthiest men, the Kearns Mansion is now the residence of its most influential politician, the governor.

Soon Gary Herbert will be moving into Utah's most famous residence — the ninth governor to call the Kearns Mansion home.

The mansion has a storied history. When it was built at the turn of the 20th century it was "one of the finest homes west of the Missouri river." President Theodore Roosevelt was entertained there.

And after a disastrous fire in 1993 and a $7.8 million restoration, the Kearns Mansion is once again one of the most impressive governor's residences in the United States.

Throughout its 107-year history, the Kearns Mansion has been the subject of countless news stories, and Deseret News photographers have captured the building at its high points and low ones. Photo researcher Ron Fox has recovered many of these photos, and digital copies are available on the newspaper's Web site, www.deseretnews.com.

The mansion, located on the once-fashionable Brigham Street (now South Temple), was built in 1902 by prominent mining magnate U.S. Sen. Thomas Kearns at a cost of $350,000. A story in the Dec. 31, 1901, Deseret News described the building in elaborate detail, concluding: "The house is a study in fine art from top to bottom, both exterior and interior. Both side and front elevations have been printed in the daily papers and the imposing style of architecture has attracted so much attention that one wealthy man in Virginia proposes to have a residence very much on the style of the Kearns residence in this city."

A year after the home was completed, Roosevelt, a personal friend of Kearns, dropped by during a visit to Salt Lake City.

Kearns lived in the mansion until he died in an automobile accident in 1918. His wife, Jennie, continued to live in the home until 1937, when she deeded it to the state.

Gov. Henry Blood and his family moved in in 1938. Herbert Maw and J. Bracken Lee also lived in the mansion until 1956 when a new governor's residence was built on Fairfax Avenue.

In a July 30, 1996, story in the Deseret News by Jerry Spangler, Jean Maw Nibley, the daughter of Herbert and Florence Maw, "recalled many fond memories of growing up in the mansion, such as watching the elaborate parties in the third-floor ballroom, the marriage of her sister there, the bowling alley in the mansion basement, the time Abbott and Costello came over for lunch and a large metal safe that guarded the candies and sweets used in the many parties at the mansion."

When the Lees moved out in 1956, the State Historical Society moved in, and for 20 years the building served as the society's offices, library and museum. The bowling alley became a depository for boxes of books.