Step back in time and enjoy the spirit of Christmas past.
Five blue-blood residences on Capitol Hill will roll out the red and green carpet to visitors for a Candlelight Tour of Historic Homes this Saturday.The event, sponsored by the Utah Heritage Foundation, showcases examples of Queen Anne, Second Renaissance Revival or Classic Revival styles of architecture. Most of the houses were built around the turn of the century for prominent Utahns.
The names reflect aristocratic pedigrees.
The 16-room Miller-Geoghegan home on North State Street is an 1890 Queen Anne. The Stiehl Home, also on North State Street, represents an eclectic mix of several architectural styles.
The Woodruff-Riter-Stewart home was built in 1906 for Edward D. Woodruff, a doctor for Union Pacific. It has been restored and is now an elegant bed and breakfast known as the Inn on Capitol Hill.
The Dickson-Gardner-Wolfe home, which dates from 1894, is an example of Georgian Revival architecture. The structure is well-schooled in the law. Its first owner, William H. Dickson, was a U.S. Attorney. At one point, James Wolfe, who had been a Chief Justice of the Utah Supreme Court, owned the residence. It is being restored and will soon debut as the Wolfe Crest Bed & Breakfast Inn.
The Spanish colonial home on the tour was built in 1927. The present owner, Tom Sieg, purchased the Tudor-style home west of the Spanish colonial and built a garden room to connect the two.
The result is a cozy living space/work of art that he sculpted to his liking.
It includes furniture and objets d'art that reflect Salt Lake City's past. The tin ceiling in the sitting room came from what is now Baci Trattoria. (Sieg is the proprietor of the New Yorker Club and a partner in Gastronomy Inc., which owns Baci.)
There are lamps that belonged to Elsa Bamberger, daughter of Simon Bamberger, a governor of Utah; a breakfront cabinet from the home of one of Brigham Continued from Young's wives; and Meissen porcelain from the estate of Albert and Caroline Eccles.
"There's a lot of Salt Lake City, a lot of Utah in my house," said Sieg, who moved to Utah from Nebraska. "I have a lot of fond memories of all my pieces."
Sculptures by his son, Erik, are in the garden room, which is decorated tastefully for the holidays with poinsettias interspersed with the year-round flora and a Christmas tree. The palm bed in the front bedroom is also one of Erik Sieg's creations.
The focal point of the two-story library during the holidays is an almost-two-story Christmas tree.
THE INN ON CAPITOL HILL, another home on the tour, opened this summer after a 1 1/2-year renovation that included new plumbing, new wiring, air conditioning, fire sprinklers and a bathroom for each of the 13 guest rooms. Previously, the home was divided into apartments and offices.
Marla Oredson, who owns the home with her husband, Dan, supervised the restoration, along with their daughter, interior designer Kirra Oredson Hurlock.
The interior is a study of wood on wood: wood paneling, wood beams and wood floors. Large windows offer splendid views of the city. The style is reminiscent of an English manor house, said Oredson. So she filled the public rooms with English antiques. There are also stained-glass windows, Tiffany lamps and antique chandeliers. The lighting fixtures, alone, are worth a look. She found many of them at Thomson & Burrows Antiques in Salt Lake City. Others are original to the house.
The music room has original canvas walls with stenciled trim.
The guest rooms and suites are furnished with antiques. Bathrooms are thoroughly modern except for the vanities, which date back to the '30s.
The place reeks of Victorian romance. "I didn't plan to do this," said Oredson. "I was looking for a house to live in. We saw this house and saw the need to have it restored."
For the holidays, she adds Christmas trees, a garland on the grand staircase, poinsettias and holiday knick-knacks throughout the house.
WOLFE CREST BED & BREAKFAST Inn has City Creek Canyon for a neighbor. It also has splendid views of the city, the mountains and the capitol. Still under construction, it will welcome Candlelight Tour visitors for a preview of its sophisticated elegance. It's scheduled to open for business at the first of the year.
The interior has been completely redone. The exterior remains true to its past.
It will double as a romantic bed & breakfast and an upsale inn for international business travelers. Guest rooms will have everything a high-tech business person needs, including faxes and computer portals. The inn will have conference facilities and a restaurant, which will serve guests and private parties.
You'll need to take a leap of faith to envision the finished product. But the project's four partners have time-tested credentials. Marion Vaughn owns the Logan House Inn. Mike Davis renovated the Providence Inn and Old Rock Church. Jane Johnson runs the Anton Boxrud Bed & Breakfast in Salt Lake City. Tom Sieg is a restaurateur.