In early photos of Salt Lake City, a tall sandstone building on the northwest corner of Main and 100 South watches over parades and celebrations. Its quiet elegance is a contrast to noisy street cars and the hustle and bustle of early 20th century life. It speaks of the progress and affluence of that long-ago era.
That building is still there. Now known as the Crandall Building, it has survived more than a century of change all around it and remains a vibrant business and office center in the heart of the city. Its life cycle, its biography are closely linked to that of the city itself.
"One of the best things about the building has always been its location," said Robert E. Crandall, who has owned and managed the building for the past 50 years. "We're a choice one block from the Salt Lake Temple, close to two prominent malls. The downtown activity has helped maintain the viability of the building. If it had been on 400 or 500 South, it might have disappeared."
The seven-story building was built by William S. McCornick between 1890 and 1892 and was Utah's "first skyscraper."
Before dependable electricity came to Salt Lake City, office building tenants weren't willing to walk up more than four flights of stairs, notes David H. Epperson, a son-in-law of Crandall, and with Epperson & Rencher Law Offices, which has made the Crandall Building its headquarters for the past six years. "Mr. McCornick's seven-story office building incorporated both gas and electric features that could power two large elevators," said Epperson, who has been researching the building's history.
The building, constructed of local Kyune sandstone and brick, is one of Salt Lake's few surviving commercial buildings from the building boom that preceded the Panic of 1893, which curtailed a lot of expansion and activity. McCornick brought in Omaha architects Mendlessohn, Fisher & Laurie to draw up the plans. Salt Lake builder William Pinney oversaw construction.
It was even then an historic corner of downtown. The first building on that location was a home and post office built by early pioneer Willard Richards. As downtown became less residential and more commercial, the corner was used by a freighting and merchant firm and later by a grocery and hardware firm.
McCornick, who was by that time a wealthy businessman and financier, bought the corner in 1888 for $72,500, a price that was, according to news reports, "considered of great magnitude and occasioned some astonishment."
There McCornick built a bank, a showcase of the wealth and elegance of his day, said Epperson. Though barely remembered now, it was Utah's largest bank at the time. A 1908 publication of "Salt Lake City Past & Present" noted that of Utah banks, "McCornick & Co. Banking House is in the lead, an institution having larger deposits than any other bank between Denver and San Francisco."
At that time, there were also banks on each of the other corners of the intersections, leading the Salt Lake Herald newspaper to declare it "in the opinion of many people, the very greatest business corner of any in the city."
McCornick died on May 18, 1921, and within hours of his death a notice was posted on the building declaring that "the assets and deposits of this bank have this day been taken over by Walker Brothers Bankers." The city's two largest banks had merged, and business activity was transferred to the Walker Bank location at Main and 200 South.
In subsequent years, several other banks occupied the McCornick space, including Central Trust Co. and First Federal Savings.
In March of 1955, the building was purchased by the Crandall family, which was involved in both life insurance and real-estate ventures. The building was then owned by the Pacific National Life Insurance Co.; the Crandalls changed the name to their own.
"Since we acquired it, I've been in charge of the building," says Crandall, now 87. The building has had some "wonderful tenants" over the years, he said, ranging from mining and financial enterprises to law and business ventures, civic organizations, and food and candy stores.
Time has also brought changes to the building. The worst disaster occurred in 1963. Crandall had recently installed new elevators, and some of the wiring was not properly installed, allowing it to rub on a conduit, eventually sending sparks into the building's attic. The roof caught fire, and although fire crews were able to put it out before substantial damage occurred, "the hundred tons of water they used came down through the building and out like a waterfall," says Crandall. "Everything was soaked — walls, floors, offices. We had to move everyone out while we restored it."
When they put a new roof on the building, "I let them take the old copper cornices off," says Crandall. It was a decision he now regrets, but at the time, "I wasn't as historically minded."
Another architectural faux pax came in the 1960s when First Federal wanted to remodel their building space by adding rows of cinder block over the sandstone. "I allowed that, too."
But in recent years, Crandall has come to appreciate the historical aspects of the building much more, he says. It was placed on the National Historic Register in 1977. "In the last 10 years, we have tried to make restorations to the building to make it look like it did in 1893. We've taken the cinder block off (removed in 1999), and we've tried to restore the appearance of the building outside like it was originally." They won't be able to redo the pillars that once adorned the Main Street Entrance; "they would go out too far on the sidewalk," says Crandall. "But we've spent a lot of money undoing some of the other damage that was done."
The marble floor in the 100 South entrance has been uncovered. It's one of the few remaining marble mosaic floors in the city, notes Epperson. But it had been covered with several layers of carpet and vinyl. Historic photos in the foyer also show the building's life cycle.
Several floors inside have also been restored. In Epperson's fifth floor law offices, walls have been taken back to the original brick, and an original safe has been uncovered. What's fun, says Crandall, is that Epperson's great-grandfather, Charles B. Stewart, once had law offices on that very floor, "so it's great for Dave to be back here. He's always been a nut on history, especially Western history."
They are also in the process of bringing McCornick's original bank area back to its former glory, using Old World craftsmen to match the plaster that was damaged from previous dropped ceilings.
The building will see more changes around it, as the downtown mall remodeling project gets under way. But they've weathered changes before and will do it again, said Crandall. "We're about the only privately owned building left on the block. But we're still here. That's the main thing."
And he's optimistic about the future. "I hope the future will be great on Main Street. I think it will be favorable. I think the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will develop this part of downtown so that it will be very attractive. Hopefully, they can bring some of the flavor back to Main Street."
During his 50 years on that street, he said, "there have been good times and bad times." And although some people prefer new structures, the Crandall Building has "a historical elegance" that is unmatched. As a contemporary of the Salt Lake Temple and the City/County Building, it shares an important place in the city's architectural history, he said; it tells us something about who we are.
Robert Earl Crandall
1917: Born in Salt Lake City.
1938-40: Graduates from East High School, serves an LDS mission under Matthew Cowley in New Zealand.
1941: Graduates from the University of Utah.
1941-43: Attends Harvard Business School. (Crandall had met Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., then a professor of policy at the school, in 1940. As a result of that meeting he was invited to Harvard.) Shortly after his enrollment, Pearl Harbor is bombed and his class is put on fast track toward graduation. Upon graduation, the entire class is taken into the service.
1946: Crandall is discharged from the Navy.
1949: Marries his wife, Evelyn, and they become parents of seven children.
1955: Crandall and his father buy the building that now bears his name.
In addition to owning and managing the Crandall Building, Crandall has worked with Lincoln National Life Insurance and has been active in community and political affairs. He served as president of the Utah Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals from 2002-03 and is currently serving as a regional chair for the Salt Lake County Republican Party. For more than 25 years he has served as chairman of a local Cub Scout Committee in the Yalecrest area of Salt Lake City.
William Sylvester McCornick
1837: Born near Picton, Ontario, Canada, the son of farmers.
1860: Leaves his homeland for California, where he works as both a farmhand and teamster.
1862: Stories of the Comstock Lode lure him to Nevada, where he spends 11 years working in both timber and mining. While living in Austin, Nev., he gets involved with banking.
1873: McCornick moves to Salt Lake City, where he continues with his banking business as well as a number of other enterprises, including the Raft River Land and Cattle Co.; the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad; the Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Co.; Utah-Idaho Sugar; and Utah Power & Light.
1883: Founds the Alta Club
A Presbyterian and a Republican, McCornick develops a good economic relationship with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that enables him to participate in several ventures as the church searches to recover from economic difficulties suffered by federal harassment over the issue of polygamy. President Heber J. Grant, in fact, is one of the honorary pallbearers at McCornick's funeral.
At the time of his death in 1921, his estate (which is divided among his six children) is estimated at upward of $2 million. McCornick is buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery.
McCornick buys the northwest corner of 100 South and Main in 1888 for $72,500. There McCornick builds a bank, a showcase of the wealth and elegance of his day.
A major change to the building occurs in 1909, when the McIntyre Building arises next door. A two-window-wide addition to the McCornick allows the two buildings to abut each other. Although offices are built on the lower floors, the addition is mostly a facade for an interior atrium that provides light for rooms in both buildings.
E-mail: carma@desnews.com