The Lion House is holding its age well, for being 150 years old.
Originally built as a home for Brigham Young's family, the Salt Lake landmark has played many roles, from college to cafeteria, office space to social center.
On Monday, the staff kicked off a birthday celebration that will last through the summer. The Lion House will be open for public tours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on six Mondays: June 12 and 26; July 3, 17 and 31; and Aug. 14.
"Normally we don't have formal tours of the house, but we have set aside these six days where we will have hostesses take people through, " said Julie Ulrich, banquet manager. "We want to share with the community our love of the history and heritage here."
The house, named for the reclining stone lion perched above the porch, is still owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The ground level is now the Pantry, where hot lunches are served cafeteria-style to the public. More than 1.5 million rolls, 35,000 pies and 20,000 cakes are made annually in the Lion House Bakery.
The upper levels are used for wedding receptions, business meetings and catered dinners. It's also the site for old-fashioned birthday parties, where children can dress in bonnets and coonskin caps, hear pioneer stories and pull taffy. On Monday, staffers pulled taffy with members of the press.
All summer the Pantry will offer a different old-fashioned soup each week, in addition to its regular menu. "These will be traditional soups that you would see served back in Brigham Young's day," said David Bench, chef and manager of the Pantry. "We'll also be offering traditional desserts like rice pudding, johnny cake and apple pie. Pies were really popular back then."
In fact, the "welcome room" of the restaurant has two replicas of the old pie cupboards used in the 1800s. The metal doors are punched with holes to let air flow through.
The house is filled with antiques, but none of them are original furnishings except a few wooden chairs and the dinner bell that Young used to call his family together each night. "All of Brigham Young's things are in the museum," Ulrich said.
Although the house isn't in its original form, every attempt has been made to replicate the pioneer atmosphere and decor, said Nancy Davies, who has written a history of the Lion House.
Davies pointed out that the piano in the front parlor really did come across the plains in a covered wagon, although it never belonged to the Young family. This front parlor is the only room in the house that hasn't been altered, and it's where the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association was founded on Nov. 28, 1869 (known then as the Young Women's Retrenchment Society).
In her research, Davies was surprised to find that Brigham Young had a gymnasium built on the west side of the house for his many children to enjoy "physical culture." In 1859, a Deseret News article noted that 75 people were living in the home, 40 of them children.
By the time of Young's death in 1877 in the Lion House, only a few wives were still living there, according to Davies.
In 1900, it was sold by the Young family to the LDS Church, and the LDS College's high school used the top floors to teach cooking and sewing. The downstairs was used as a cafeteria for students and church employees.
In 1931, the building was donated to the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association by LDS President Heber J. Grant.
It was used as a girls social center until it closed for repairs in 1964. In 1969, it re-opened for weddings and membership-only dining, and in 1991, the Pantry was opened to the public.
E-mail: vphillips@desnews.com