So I was pedaling down 25th Street to write about Ogden's trunk murders but got distracted by the slowly emerging gorgeousness of the house at 726 25th Street.You know the place. It's the most ornate home in town, complete with onion dome and lots of gingerbread, an architect's fantasy, almost. Someone said "I'm going to do this one right," and did.
Over the last couple of months the place has slowly taken on a host of lovely colors -- blues and greens and rust reds and burnished golds. A network of steel scaffolding surrounds it and, today, there was a guy in blue athletic shorts standing on one, carefully daubing the woodwork.
That's Mylon Lauritzen, who bought the house a year ago. It is his dream house forever, he said, and he's trying his best to restore it to its former glory.
Mylon said he's lived in Utah most of his life, as has his wife. A few years back he started eyeing this place as one he'd want to live in, and a year ago things worked out.
In addition to living in the house, Mylon is hoping to dig up as much of its history as he can. One of his big frustrations is just trying to find a picture of the original owner. Warner was on the city council, was a bigwig around Ogden and hung out with members of the Eccles family. Surely someone pointed their Kodak at him said "Hey Andy, SMILE!"
Musta been camera shy. When I got down to Union Station I dug through our archives and came up empty. I must note that our archives are not all that big, however, but Mylon said he also checked with Weber State's Special Collections library.
We do have one sheet of blueprints from a restoration done in 1977 by Ronald D. Hales, who was preparing the house to use as an office for his architects business. Mylon said the Hales family got hold of him after he bought the house and gave him files and pictures Hales took at the time.
Mylon said that, like most old mansions from Ogden's boom days, this one fell on hard times. At one time it was broken up into apartments.
Thankfully, nothing worse happened to it. The Jefferson neighborhood mansions are a good example of how far down some of those places can sink. One had as many as 20 apartments in it. Even as big as those homes were, they must have been very small apartments, little more than efficiencies, usually the last step before a fire or the wrecking ball.
Fortunately, Ogden is working to keep that from happening. The Jefferson district is lovely.
I didn't ask Mylon if he got city help to do his house. Either way, he's the guy on the scaffold in the hot sun, working to make downtown Ogden a better place, the same as the many volunteers at Union Station and all the nice folks opening their own businesses on 25th Street and areas nearby.
That's how we do things around here. Bit by bit, building by building, we're rebuilding our city ourselves. I think that's just cool.
Next up: Ogden, trunk murder destination, or "You shipped us what?"
Charlie, thanks so much for taking an interest in our progress and for the time you spent doing research at Union Station. Milan and I feel pretty lucky to get to live in this house and to bring it back to life, one brush stroke at a time. In answer to your question, nope, we're not getting any benefits or incentives from the City although we do qualify for a State of Utah historic preservation tax credit, which helps. We have to get approval for everything we do, and the folks at the City--Joseph Simpson in particular--have been great to work with.
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to live in that house. I'm so glad someone is fixing it up. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLove it! I love nearby and have watched its transformation over the years. So glad to see it taken care of.
ReplyDeleteI toured the house back in 2008. I believe that staircase that goes through the tower is one of the most beautiful architectural elements I've seen around. The whole place was just oozing with possibility for a stunning restoration.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool house. I hope when you guys are done, I'll get to see it.
ReplyDeleteLovely article on a fabulous house. I wish the owners lots of luck with this adventure.
ReplyDeleteI always loved that place,I used to live at 740-25th 25 years ago
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad my Grandpa Hales was able to help. He had a big part in the restoration of 25th. Even after he passed away I seem to keep catching his influence.
ReplyDeleteI would like to follow your blog, but I am having a hard time figuring out how to follow you. Sometimes you were the only article I read. Please fill me in on how to follow you. I build web-sites, but I am, having a hard time figuring out how to follow you. If I am struggling others are too!
ReplyDeleteRobin -- you can click on "subscribe by email" just to the lower right of the comment box -- or you can bookmark the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://charlestrentelman.blogspot.com
and just click on that when you want.
Ron Hales was the architect that designed the restoration work at the Union Station. I had the pleasure of meeting him through Teddy Griffith.
ReplyDeleteSo glad that someone who cares has the house again. It is an immense project to restore such a building, but the payoff comes in adding to the community. Thirty-plus years ago it was our family that worked on cutting out the wooden embellishments, researching the history and putting it on the historical register. Yes, Stephanie, your Grandpa Hales was intent on making things better for the family and community. He also prepared the Master Plan for Historic 25th Street and designed the law office kitty-corner from his office at the corner of Madison and 25th Street. By the way, Charles, the Reed Hotel was located on the southeast corner of 25th and Washington, not lower 25th Street. Thank you for featuring the house in your column.
ReplyDeleteLorraine, After seeing this story I wanted to learn more about the Warner House. While I was searching on-line I came across the photos for the National Register nomination in 1977. I was surprised to see that the house had been stripped at one point of many of the original details that make it so head turning. Only some of the embellishments survived. While the current home owners are doing a wonderful job and should be commended, I realized that someone else, prior to them, needed to be thanked for restoring so much of what had been lost. I now know from reading your comment it was your family who did that. I would love to know more about the restoration process and methods, and how you knew what the original front porch looked like. Who was your carpenter or craftsman who reproduced all the spindles, gingerbread, etc.? Are there photos of the restoration in process? Did your family do all the work themselves or hire a contractor/architect? I would love for more information if you see this post.
DeleteRyan, Mrs. Hales might respond but I can also provide some answer to your question (my husband and I are the current homeowners). We are, indeed, grateful for the extensive restoration work that the Hales family did on the home in the late 1970s/early 80s. Mrs. Hales brought us slides from their renovation and provided great information, and again we were most grateful for not only doing the work, but documenting it and then passing it on to us. For example, she gave us three photos of various angles taken when the home was less than four years old. They were from glass sides in BYU's archive. These pictures show exactly what the home looked like when it was new and they patterned all of the woodwork and ornamentation accordingly. In addition, they found spindles and other woodwork from the porch in the crawl spaces under the house to copy. I gather that they did most if not all of the exterior work themselves with many pictures showing their family at work. The Hales son(s) turned pieces on a lathe in the basement. Without their loving restoration, who knows what would have become of the home. Unfortunately much of the woodwork was again neglected and we've now invested a lot of labor to save it, and in some cases have copied new pieces to fill in what couldn't be salvaged.
Delete