Four Utah homes take center stage on cable's HGTV network on Sunday night. "Restore America with Bob Vila" (8 and 11 p.m.) comes to the Beehive State and visits Salt Lake City, Ogden and Park City.
The show itself is about more than just homes, it's about neighborhoods. About how restoration projects fit in and even instigate revivals of whole areas of cities.And the show is working its way across the country (albeit in a scattershot manner), looking at buildings in each state.
Sunday's "Restore America" does what HGTV does best -- gets you inside the homes and shows you how the reconstruction took place and the end result. As anyone who's addicted to HGTV can tell you, this is great stuff. The fact that this week it's about homes in our general vicinity only makes it that much more interesting.
The tour starts on Salt Lake's Avenues at the second-empire style Culmer House, built in 1881 by businessman William Culmer. Jane and Don Stromquist have spent the past 14 years restoring the home to its former glory, including the restoration of some amazing wall stenciling and murals. Then it's on to a four-story, Queen Anne-style home built in 1890 by attorney Parley Williams. (It's just a little place -- only 8,400 square feet.) Current owners Brek and Jenny Anderson bought the house in the early 1990s after it sat vacant and condemned for eight years, and it was a wreck. Photos of the "before" make video of the "after" all the more spectacular.
Which is also the case with the Dalton House in Ogden, a piece that goes out of its way to make the point that cities can encourage the revival of fading neighborhoods. Ogden's Neighborhood Development Agency wanted to preserve the 1886 house and sold it to Jim Love for a dollar. He, of course, agreed to spend $60,000 on the renovations and, just as importantly, live in the house.
(The profile of the Dalton house does contain one rather embarrassing error that makes you question exactly how diligent the show's research department is. Ogden is referred to as "Utah's second-largest city," which would come as quite a shock to West Valley City, Sandy, Provo and Orem.)
Then it's on to Park City for the Stephens House. The 1892 structure, originally built for the town's postal superintendent, literally looked like a rickety old shack when Doug Stephens bought it. He and his wife, Ellie, have turned it into a charming home that preserves the original character.
It's altogether a charming half-hour that's a nice plug for the state -- and a nice chance to get a peek inside some of our neighbor's really great houses.
NO MORE ACTING: Bryan Shiffer is no longer the acting news director at KUTV-Ch. 2 -- he's now got the gig, removing the "acting" from the title after nine months.
And Pat Benedict has been promoted to executive producer of Ch. 2's news, up from producer of the 10 p.m. newscast.
You can reach Scott D. Pierce by e-mail at pierce@desnews.com