Every home can tell a story of lives and loves and sorrows and joys that have played out between its walls.
But some seem to have an extra measure of home-grown spirit. "From the moment you walk in, you feel a strong, good energy," says Julie Shipman, who lives on a quiet stretch of Douglas Street with her husband, James, and sons, Peter, Hank and Jack. "That's how it was with this house."
Their home is one of the residences on this year's Utah Heritage Foundation Historic Homes Tour, scheduled for Saturday.
When the Shipmans moved to Salt Lake City from Denver a few years ago, they bought a big, new house in the Capitol Park area. But, says Julie, "it didn't feel homey." She wanted a place with sidewalks and a back yard where her boys could throw a ball without chasing it down the mountain. She wanted a place where they could walk to school and a neighborhood that offered diversity.
"My friend Connie Barnhart was living in this house, and I came to visit her. I told her this was just the kind of house I wanted." The Barnharts had a five-year plan and hoped to move to Park City, "but she called a week later and said they had decided to move now and did I want the house?"
Since moving in, she says, "I'm happier and richer. I have no interest in ever moving again. It's not a showy home. It's not grandiose. It just feels good."
The house was built for Joseph Fielding and Ethel G. Reynolds Smith in 1925. They had bought the land in Gilmer Park in 1921, the same year he had been appointed LDS Church historian, and they planned to build a home in the then-popular Colonial Revival style to accommodate their growing family of 10 children.
A biography of Joseph Fielding Smith written by Francis Gibbons tells how the family watched the progress of the home's construction. An evening ride from their home on Salt Lake City's west side usually ended on Douglas Street to see what new features had been added.
By the time the family moved in, Joseph Fielding had been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve for 15 years.
At that time, Douglas Smith was a year old. The Smiths sold the home in 1954, just after Douglas left home, so it was the only home of his early life, says Douglas, who still lives in Salt Lake City.
Another child was born to the Smiths in 1927, but a few months later, the oldest daughter married, so all 11 children were not in the home for long. Following the death of Ethel in 1937, Joseph Fielding married Jessie Evans, much noted for her music. So that brought other changes to the household.
Overall, says Douglas, "it was a very good place to grow up. The neighborhood wasn't as built up, so there were some great places to play where we could dig tunnels and put Tarzan swings in the trees."
He remembers the "good-sized front room. There was an archway to a study on one side. Dad spent a lot of time there reading and studying. On the other side was a sun room, where first we had radio and then television. There were lots of plants and even an occasional bird."
As a young boy, Douglas remembers tipping chairs over and covering them with blankets to make caves and tunnels in that front room — and his father "entering into the fun of crawling through them."
He also remembers the long kitchen table big enough to hold the entire family. His father sat at the head of the table, but no one sat at the other end because it ran up to the refrigerator. Benches were used on either side, but as one of the younger kids he had to sit on the bench by the wall — and crawl under the table to get there. "We would have family prayer, and then I'd sit up in my spot."
The house was heated by coal, with a stoker. "My dad used to stoke the furnace, but when I got old enough, I took that over." There was a big room next to the furnace where coal was stored, and he also remembers hauling out clinkers.
There was no air conditioning. "We had a fan or two. But in the summer it got hotter than the dickens in the upstairs bedrooms. We often set up a tent in the back yard and slept there."
Joseph Fielding encouraged his sons to play sports. In the back yard there was supposed to be a tennis court, but "it was not operative," remembers Douglas. "It was dirt, and mostly just something to weed." A horseshoe pit in the back alley was more successful, as was the high-jump pit the boys built on the vacant property to the north.
After his sister Amelia married Bruce R. McConkie, they lived in the basement of the house for awhile while McConkie was finishing school. "He delivered ice, and I remember him having to leave early to take his ice."
There were a lot of interesting things about the house that Douglas enjoyed. For one thing, the house was rarely locked. But if it ever was, he knew a secret way to get in.
Mostly, though, he enjoyed the family life that went on day-to-day. "We had a good, close family. And my father was a wonderful father."
Since the Smith family left Douglas Street, the house has undergone a number of changes. The home was purchased by Sen. Bob Bennett. His daughter, Julie Newton, redid the interior, Shipman said. The stairs were widened, an upstairs hallway eliminated and upstairs bedrooms re-configured to add a master bedroom.
But the woodwork is original, as are the quartersawn oak floors. After the Shipmans moved in, "I let my kids decorate their own rooms," which adds an eclectic note to the decor.
But, she says, "even though it's been refurbished, the house has a special feel. I've had people come in the front door and just stop and look around. There are a lot of memories here."
If you go
What: Utah Heritage Foundation's annual Historic Homes Tour
Where: Gilmer Park. Tour headquarters is on Douglas Street (1240 East) between 9th and 10th South.
When: Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Cost: $10 for UHF members; $15 for nonmembers.
Tickets: Purchase in advance by calling 801-533-0858 or at tour headquarters on Saturday.
Parking: Park free at the East High School faculty parking lot, 900 South between 1200 and 1300 East. A free shuttle will take participants to tour headquarters.
E-mail: carma@desnews.com