Show if TititfmwiT 4E itii ' pp Sunday December 13 1987 The Salt Lake Tribune Jack Goodman’s city view Old apartments get handsome face lift and upgrade inner city If recent travels have taken you to Washington New York San Francisco or similar sizable cities you must have noticed the effects of what realtors and sociologists call “gentrifica-tion- ” In our capitol’s adjacent Manhattan’s Georgetown district East Village and the upper reaches of San Francisco’s Clay Street elderly dwellings and apartment houses have been gutted renovated rehabilitated or restored for “Yuppies” seeking affordable housing or elderly folks in search of reasonable rentals A modest but effective effort towards making a deteriorated close-i- n district of our “inner city” appealing and attractive to new and old families of modest means has been completed on 3rd East just below 1st South Four substantial but sadly n apartment houses the Pauline Embassy Embassy Arms and Downing Apartments extending from 100 S 3rd East to 136 S 3rd East have been spruced up in admirable fashion The remodeled apartments are easily recognizable as a group because of the gleaming brass carriage lanterns placed at the entryway of each building e But it takes more than lanterns to effect a major change in a n quartet of apartments Acto cording project manager Sharon Snow restoration of the 114 units in the four 1920s buildings has cost approximately $42 million — and could not have been carried out without the dollars provided through a Washington corporation Housing and Urban Development Funds and through the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency The buildings involved are intriguing for more than fiscal reasons having both architectural and historic interest The apartment house in the three-stor- y drawing is the porch-frontestructure at 110 S 3rd East In colarchitectural style its gray-bric- k construction or" and its rear-yar- d melds with the Pauline Apartments at 278 E 1st South Both units have flat roofs gables atop projecting three-stor- y porches and round segmented arches over Windows and doorways Both “twins” stand on rough stone foundations have lead- run-dow- old-styl- run-dow- d Jack I Goodman rider and became the town’s busiest fight promoter He was the very good friend of Jack Dempsey who expunged Jess Willard annihilated Georges Carpentier and KO’d Luis Firpo Dempsey had his own luxury apartment in the Downing including a large library room in which arched alcoves held shelves on which his trophies were displayed ed glass transoms and windows and have wooden balustrades on their restored porches Dating to about 1910 they were built for one Annie Baldwin and were designed by an architect not named on any record I can find Perhaps more importantly they provide a very typical example of a somewhat unique Salt Lake City apartment style still visible on many redowntown streets search shows this notion of affixing twin three-stor- y high porches to the front facades of otherwise modest apartment houses was not as prevalent elsewhere in the West Of course the Covey Apartments extending uphill from East South Temple to and beyond 1st Avenue provide a prime example of this same style Just east of the Pauline (who was she anyway?) the Embassy Arms at 120 the Embassy Apartments at 130 and the Downing Apartments at 136 S 3rd East are more recent in construction differ widely in style and lack those distinctive porches The Embassy Arms has a central projecting bay crowned by a crenellated parapet When built in 1930 the owner’s name was given as Bessie P Downing a lady whose name is also affixed to city records concerning the Embassy Apartment building immediately to the east and the Downing Apartments rounding out the remodeled quartet While the name Bessie P Downing may not mean a great deal to longtime Salt Lakers the name of Hardy K Downing still stirs old memories among local sports fans Downing came to town as a bicycle Non-definiti- neo-class- ic full-heig- The oversize apartment recently renovated alas now rents without those cups and plaques The 1923 Downing the Pauline and the sister Embassy Apartments served other rather glamorous tenants When new MGM Fox and similar Hollywood studios had offices on “Film Row” just around the corner on 1st South Stars and producers coming to town to promote and distribute movies often stayed in convenient “luxury suites" The same film notables probably dined in Jack Dempsey’s restaurant on New York’s Times Square when appearing in Damon Runyon’s favorite city According to some accounts one of the apartment buildings gained a considerable reputation as a speakeasy with the city’s fast set Times change and neighborhoods likewise By the time World War II arrived most Salt Lakers of prominence moved to Federal Heights or the suburbs meaning downtown apartments went into decline One prominent local advertising executive who prefers anonymity recalls renting a “studio apartment” in the Downing for something under $50 a month “But it was modern — a gas range and refrigerator garbage —was we picked up by the management loved it till we had a baby and not enough room for same” Under a partnership headed by Lynn Bushman a local CPA the n Inc construction firm has saved — and polished — the arched wood framed French doors the original tiles in some bathrooms and kitchens and much of the leaded stained glass in the elderly buildings The original tapestry brick proved sound and needed little reworking But the wooden pillars supporting the tall porches on the two corner buildings Jo-va- have been spruced up and made attractive for new and old families of modest means quartet of apartment buildings on 3rd East that were in deteriorating condition A badly need considerable restoration or replacement work According to Sharon Snow rentals have been satisfactory giving rise to hopes other projects df a similar nature will help bring a new crop of residents back to the downtown dis- trict busUnfortunately the one-tim- e tling Salt Lake Athletic Club on 3rd East and the nearby CineGrill have shuttered andor vanished But the four apartments now owned by the Pauline Downs Limited Partnership have some intriguing neighbors — the upscale deConde’s the Blue Mouse movie theatre the Cosmic Aeroplane bookstore and DeBou-zek'- s house of many engravings Other shops nearby range from the raffish to the upscale thereby making life pleasant for newly arrived apartment dwellers These newcomers should restore a measure of prosperity to declining Main State and Broadway A THREE-STOR- NON-MO-BIL- — Puzzled by the three-stor- y high apparition that has recently appeared on the sidewalk athwart the Eagle Gate Plaza? You are not alone An inspection of the blueprints used by the Young Electric Sign Co indi cates The Thing when complete will Christmas tree be a formed of steel pipes of varying dimension A fairly job foreman reports The Thing will be lighted for Christmas then dismantled Which seems a little unlikely but one has hopes The Thing is big enough to overwhelm the his- toric Eagle Gate arch Considering the present oversupply of downtown Christmas decor the might better have been planted alongside that now almost forgotten but too visible “Tree of Life” on the desert east of Wendover al non-mobi- All Jewelry Sold at a Fraction Above Wholesale!! fyfaliurn $100 DOWN $100 PER MONTH Sale Price $4995 Kewai Model GE-(Open end contract 1500 annual percentage rate) 1 272-866- 9 5450 Green Street & 53rd South) Murray Utah 841 23 Phone Bear Facts wishes you a Beary Merry Christmas and invites you to visit our newest location in the Crossroads Mall Utah Toll Free Stone Age Crafts: Pottery Beautiful Pottery for Christmas °o FREE GIFT WRAP Down ©eaIETIFactS Christmas Hours: 3695 So 3rd West Mon-S- 10-5:- at 575-532LEVEL 3 CROSSROADS MALL FASHION PLACE MALL 261-441- 1 MAIN ST MARKET PLACE PARK OTV STRANDS EARRINGS RINGS PENDANTS 6494)510 Ballet West sAILJ IOHN HART Artistic Director THE BIG ONE OF THE YEAR IN TIME FOR HOLIDAY SAVINGS LADIES’ SHOES - PRESENTS A HOLIDAY TRADITION OIIV 20 types t in Happy Holidays! 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