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Show Street Address: 126 South 200 West •----------------------------------------------------------------------'• . Site No: vo Architect/Builder: Building Materials: Brick and stone Building Type/Style: Description of physical appearance & significant architectural features: (Include additions, alterations, ancillary structures, and landscaping if applicable) The Lewis S. Hills residence, except for the west additions made in 1928, has retained its original appearance. The original plan was roughly square S-shaped but now isbasically rectangular. The 1928 additions were built of brick and are flat roofed. The window patterns and sizes are similar but the Italianate detailing was not carried to the additions. The additions are laregly obscured from view by huge trees. The architectural value lies in the original house which has been unaltered on all but the west side. The interior also retains much of its original detailing in the main rooms but was altered with respect to plan when transformed into a hotel for the Basque community. The paneled central stairway is particularly ornate. The Hills residence displays the characteristics of typical high V. I. houses in Utah. The architectural focal point is the projecting eastern wing and its two-story bay window. The bay window is segmented and is heavily paneled and moulded. The windows, like those found in the rest of the building, are set within square bays and have double-hung sashes. The superstructure of the two-story house is brick and sits upon a stone foundation. The roof is a truncated hip. The crowning cornice is a major architectural feature and contains a paneled freeze with paired brackets (single brackets around the bay window), and dentils. Other decorative elements include stone quoins, pedimented stone lintels and a fancy C-tatement of Historical Significance: Construction Date: c.1885 The Hills residence : is significant as the home of one of pioneer Utah's major financial figures, Lev/is S. Hills. For over four decades as president a director or major shareholder of many of Utah's most important banking, commercial and industrial institutions Hills played a leading role in economic development in the state. Since 1928 the former Hills house has served as a community center for the Basque population of SaltLake City. As a representative example of local High Victorian Italianate architec ture 5 the house is also significant. A popular residential style in Salt Lake City from the mid 1880s till the early 1890s, the Hills residence is ::ne of only a few well-preserved Italianate houses remaining in the city. Lewis S. Hills was born in South Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1836. He came to Salt Lake City in 1862. In 1869 he participated in starting the rivate 'bank of Hooper, Eldredge and Company. In 1872 the bank was .acorporated as the Deseret National Bank with Hills as cashier. In 1892 :; became president. He also was a director of Deseret Savings Bank, .MI (Zion f s Cooperative Mercantile Institution), Beneficial Life ..surance Company, Consolidated Wagon and Machine Company, as well as other •jor banks and companies. Hills was also active in local politics as a member of the People's oty. He was the first receiver of the U.S. Land Office in Salt Lake i served two terms on the city council. He married Theresa Burton in •••:> and they had six children. Hills died in 1915. ev/is Hills owned the site upon which the house stands from 1869 until .. The building was built c.1885 as a residence for the Hills family. time after the family moved, the large house was converted to a ding.house. In. the early 1950s the house was purchased by John F. ~-':t of Bennett's Paint and Glass. Bennett was an early developer of ut glass, art gla.ss and pain,t industry in Utah. o'" present ov/ner, John Landa,' bought the building in 1928. He and his recently come to Salt Lake from the Basque country of Spain where |
