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Show 929 1st Avenue - 1895 H {•j Architect/Builder: Building Materials: Brick_____ Building Type/Style: Victorian Description of physical appearance & significant architectural features: (Include additions, alterations, ancillary structures, and landscaping if applicable) O cc •* This is a large, two-story Victorian house. It is of red brick, but the decorated gables and two-story porch of wood dominate the facade. The front gable has fishscale wood-shingle siding as well as stick-style decoration. Behind and to the left of this gable is another gable with a carved sun-burst pattern, pierced by a paneled brick chimney. The large two-story front porch has turned columns, and the second floor balustrade is still intact. The large single-pane window, with a transom above, next to the porch on the first floor, is characteristic of turnof-the-century design. Tom Hanchett Q ->• oc 0 H I Statement of Historical Significance: a D D D O Aboriginal Americans Agriculture Architecture The Arts Commerce D D D Q D Communication Conservation Education Exploration/Settlement Industry D Military Sf'Mining D Minority Groups H Political D Recreation D Religion D Science a Socio-Humanitarian D Transportation This house is both architecturally noteworthy as a fine example of the :Victorian Style and historically significant as the home of Clarence E. Alien who had been a prominent poli tical figure during Utah's transition from Territory to State. The house was built in 1895 by Eugene Lewis, about whom nothing is known except that he was a non-Mormon lawyer. In 1908 he sold the house to Clarence E. Alien, who occupied it until 1922, when he moved to Ohio. Alien came to Salt Lake City in 1881 from Western Reserve university in Hudson, Ohio, where he was a professor of ancient languages. He taught Latin and Greek in Salt Lake City's Hammond Hall, later the Salt Lake Academy, one of the New West Congregational Schools. When his health began to fail, he was advised to seek less sedentary work; a friend from Cleveland, Ohio, who owned the Old Jordan Mine at Bingham offered him a job as an assayer. His daughter Florence recalled that "Father sat up all night reading a chemistry text and went into the assay off ice the next morning. His results were ac curate; the company retained him, and the ore that went out from Old Jordan was marketed according to the estimates in his assay. "He liked the work, his health improved, and so did his financial situation. In 1888, Alien resigned his job to run for the Territorial Legi Legislature, serving from 1888 to 1896. His primary concern in the legislature was the establishment of a free public school system, whih did not exist in the state at that time. He authored three bills relating to this matter; with their passage he was designated "Father of the Free Public School System in Utah." He was also instrumental in the pas sage of the first workmen's compensation laws in the Territory. In 1890, Alien was elected Salt Lake County Clerk, and in 1892 and 1896 was elected delegate to the Republican National Convention. At the same time, he was study ing law and was admitted to the bar in 1893, opening an office in Salt Lake Q'ty that year. |
