PROVO — People thought it looked like a turtle's shell because of its massive dome shape and curvy sides. But it was gray. And a bit too large. And people could ice skate or buy groceries inside.
Two trackhoes, one with a wrecking ball, crushed a massive concrete building locally known as the Ream's "turtle" on Saturday, ending its 40-year history as an ice skating rink-turned-grocery store. The building is being replaced by a development of condominiums and retail shops for Brigham Young University students.
Members of the Ream family tearfully watched as the store was knocked down. So did former employees Cloy Johnson and Mike Carter. City officials, longtime Provo residents and the new developers also watched. And Ron Jensen, the Zamboni operator, was on hand as well. Many brought cameras and lugged away chunks of cement as keepsakes.
The building came down more quickly than expected. "They were weakening it on the back side" with a wrecking ball, said Bob McConnell of B.D. Barney Construction, Spanish Fork. "The roof gave in." Spectator Joe Snyder was standing in the doorway of the structure and received a few minor scrapes along with a too-close-for-comfort view of the building as it fell, he said.
The building's design came about in 1961 after Leon Frazier shared with BYU engineering and architecture professors his ideas for an Olympic-size ice skating rink to be called Winter Gardens. He wanted to build on property off Freedom Boulevard and 1400 North.
"This part of Provo was kind of part of outer Zimbabwe," Mayor Lewis Billings said.
The challenge was designing a building without columns. It had to be open; it was, after all, to be an ice skating rink.
"A dome roof is a very good solution," said Arnold Wilson, a structural engineer who helped design the building.
But dome roofs were expensive. At the time, they were built with wood forms. Wilson and his colleagues brainstormed a design that cost only $75,000 — about a third of the price of a wood form.
Their idea: Pile up a huge mound of dirt. Place steel beams over it. Pour concrete over the pile. After the concrete dries, dig out the dirt on the inside and voila! — a steel-reinforced concrete building has been made. A concrete floor with coils that could freeze water was poured toward the end of construction.
The building took Wilson's career in a new direction. He specialized in concrete domes and built houses, stadiums and businesses all over the world. He improved the aesthetics and technology. He wrote a textbook about it: "Practical Design of Concrete Shells."
"I remember skating to the Beatles with my fingers crossed so I wouldn't fall," said Karen Frazier, daughter of Leon Frazier, who died in 1971.
The rink wasn't profitable, Frazier said, and her father sold it to Paul Ream in 1967.
Paul Ream had been in the grocery business since 1944. Ream's stores, which now number 12 along the Wasatch Front, also sell Western ware — saddles, blue jeans, fishing poles, guns, ammunition.
People flocked to the Ream's turtle from Price, Cedar City, Heber City.
"At one time this was (cowboy boot-maker) Tony Lamas' biggest account, and it was also the No. 1 outlet for Levi's in the state of Utah," said Cloy Johnson, who managed the store in a 30-year career with Ream's.
Items were sold at cost plus 10 percent, a tradition that began after World War II, when Paul Ream sold war surplus goods for 10 percent over cost.
The history of the Ream's turtle reflects the change in the grocery business and society's habits.
"It use to be the housewives bought cake mix and Bisquick and cooked," said Paul J. Ream, grandson of the store's founder and store director when it closed two years ago.
Now, shoppers want frozen goods and convenience foods.
"We changed from selling boxes of Bisquick to rotisserie chicken," he said.
The so-called "big box" trend in recent decades, when large nationwide retail stores opened with cheap goods, slowed business at Ream's. But Paul J. Ream sees a rebound.
"I think today it changed a bit," he said. "They want to come back to small (stores). They want cleanliness, freshness and service."
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com