The state of Utah won't be putting an ad in the classifieds anytime soon for a "remodeled 32 rm., 6 bdrm, lux. home, fncd. yard, grt midtown loc."
Ending speculation that the Governor's Mansion would not be inhabited during his administration, Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr. says he will move his family, including six children, into the stately residence on South Temple next month.
"There's a distinct sense of history that goes with it that our kids are anticipating with great interest," Huntsman said Thursday. "It's a home that represents the people of this great state. My family and I will do our best to respect that which is entrusted to us."
Gov. Olene Walker and her husband, Myron, are of course the mansion's current residents. However, the state's last chief executive who still had children living at home, former Gov. Mike Leavitt, chose to stay in the family's own east bench home after being forced out of the mansion by a 1993 fire.
At the time, the Leavitts said the decision enabled their children to lead more normal lives, staying closer to their friends and activities. Huntsman said shortly after his election that he and his wife, Mary Kay, were considering how moving to the mansion would affect their children.
But now the Huntsmans and their children have decided to live for the next four years — or longer, should the governor-elect win a second term — in the historic house, located on South Temple not far from the Huntsmans' home in Federal Heights.
"I wanted to make sure the kids were comfortable," Huntsman said, noting that the family initially was leaning against the move. But now, he said, the children, who range in age from 5 to 19, are excited.
Yes, there are only six bedrooms in the 32-room mansion, but Huntsman said his children already share bedrooms in their family home. There are plenty of bathrooms, though — 10, plus three kitchens, three dining rooms and eight fireplaces.
This won't be the first time the Huntsmans have lived in an official residence. When Huntsman served as the U.S. ambassador to Singapore under the first President Bush, the family lived upstairs at the embassy.
"For our older kids, that was an enormously important growing experience," Huntsman said. "They learned a great deal during that period." The lessons they learned, such as how to greet official visitors to the embassy, may come in handy at the mansion.
All of the Huntsman children still live at home, although the eldest daughter attends classes at Utah State University in Logan during the week. The family's home in Federal Heights will be maintained as their primary residence, Huntsman said.
The mansion is rent-free because, by law, the governor is entitled to housing, household and secretarial staff, and household expenses. This year, the state has budgeted $209,000 for the operations and maintenance of the mansion.
The governor-elect and the future first lady were scheduled to have dinner in the mansion Thursday night with the Walkers. They were also to get a tour of their new home.
No major remodeling is planned before the family moves in sometime in late January, although Mary Kay Huntsman may do some redecorating, Jason Chaffetz, chief of staff, said. The mansion underwent a 2 1/2-year renovation after a Christmas tree caught fire in 1993.
The blaze gutted the three-story mansion but did not cause any injuries, even though then-first lady Jacalyn Leavitt and the Leavitts' youngest son, Westin, 3 years old at the time, were home when the 25-foot tree started burning.
The price tag for rebuilding the mansion was $7.8 million, mostly paid for by insurance. The work included the installation of fire sprinklers as well as seismic upgrades, new heating and cooling systems and new security features.
The mansion is considered one of the state's great architectural treasures. It was built in 1901 for silver baron Thomas Kearns at a cost of $350,000. After Kearns' death in 1937, his widow donated the mansion to the state to be used as the governor's residence.
A new home for the governor was built by the state in 1956, on Fairfax Avenue in Federal Heights. The Kearns Mansion soon fell into disrepair, and in 1977 the state decided to restore it and sold the Fairfax Avenue house to pay for the project.
The late Gov. Scott Matheson moved his family into the restored mansion in 1980. It was home to every governor since, until the fire in 1993. Walker and her husband took up residence there in 2003, after Leavitt stepped down to join the Bush administration.
The governor "has thoroughly enjoyed living in the mansion," Walker's spokesman, Justin Smart, said. "She looks forward to the Huntsmans enjoying it."
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