22 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 5 Utah as a whole, Salt Lake City has an LDS minority and a much higher percentage of the community is from elsewhere, bringing in diverse cultural influences and values. The city has returned a Democratic mayor since 1976, has a longstanding independent liberal tradition and was voted US Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender City of the Year in 2012. The city’s geographic distribution of socio-economic groups is also unusual, with some of the most attractive residential neighbourhoods established on the rising terrain of the East Bench. The higher elevation helps to alleviate the winter pollution, a key factor in the development of attractive and desirable early 20th-century residential suburbs. One such neighbourhood, Yalecrest, has recently been the focus of significant local preservation activity in the face of pressure from developers buying and demolishing houses to rebuild at increased scale and volume. While the trend is typical of many cities in the US in a buoyant housing market, Salt Lake City has received periodic publicity for this particular neighbourhood struggle between private gain and the preservation of community character. The preservation dynamics in this neighbourhood are also instructive in understanding how this struggle plays out in many communities across the US. PRESERVATION POLICY IN THE US In the US the term ‘conservation’ is generally associated with the environmental or ecological domain while the protection and care of the historic built environment is termed ‘historic preservation’. A key principle in US preservation is that ‘all preservation is local’. Real protection of urban character relies on the legal provisions of a local ordinance, with the enforcement teeth provided by that law. This is enacted by the municipality or county and relies on enabling state law to define the potential boundaries of this local preservation autonomy. The inspiration and the methodology derive from the federal government, in the shape of the Historic Preservation Act 1966, which is administered by the National Park Service (NPS). The act ensures that public funding is not used to destroy recognised historic resources without due consideration or mitigation. The federal government role is one of maintaining the National Register of Historic Places (NR) recognition, tax incentive programmes based on the NR, and grant funding for local government. This role is primarily exercised through the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in each state. As well as federal tax incentives for eligible rehabilitation projects for historic commercial buildings, the act also provides for state tax incentives for rehabilitation of residential buildings. State tax credits vary by state and are locally defined, and may or may not be in place. Both federal and state tax credits are periodically under threat from annual budget review and antigovernment political elements. SALT LAKE CITY HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROGRAM Salt Lake City’s Historic Preservation Program began in 1976 with the adoption of a Preservation Ordinance, Historic Preservation Zoning Overlay District, design review standards, and Historic Landmark Commission. Today the city has 18 National Register Historic Districts and around 190 National Register Landmark Sites. In addition, 12 Local Historic Districts (LHDs) and around 160 sites and structures are listed on the City Register of Cultural Resources (subject to local ordinance protection through design review and control of demolition). These are supported by a Historic Preservation Plan, ordinance design standards and various historic design guidelines overseen by the Historic Landmark Commission. YALECREST CASE STUDY Contrasting definitions of community are currently in play across the Yalecrest neighbourhood of Salt Lake City. The area was gradually developed from around 1910 with an initial focus on the then popular American Arts & Crafts, Craftsman and Prairie Bungalow architectural styles. It reached its character-defining development hiatus in the 1920s and 1930s, with a concentration of period revival styles influenced by contemporary European – especially British and French – architecture. The development of the neighbourhood continued into the early 1950s, with the construction of ‘Minimal Traditional’ forms of simpler design and new construction materials, reflecting post-war shortages as much as a change in residential fashion. Building scale across Yalecrest is also varied, providing a range of house types of up to two storeys while most are single or 1½ storey buildings. The development of Yalecrest over a period of around 40 years documents the diversity of historic residential character across much of the first half of the century in Salt Lake City, and helps to forge the identity of both community and city. While the neighbourhood’s distinctive pattern of roof profiles, gables and front porches creates and orchestrates the character of many streets, each house in turn brings its own characteristics, expressed in composition, fenestration, materials and construction details. Streets lined with mature trees harmonise with the architecture to create an intimate and rich residential character, which is Preservation of the most important icons is not a foregone conclusion. The Richardsonian Romanesque City and County Building (Monheim, Bird, and Proudfoot, 1894), for example, narrowly survived a vote to demolish it. The building was rehabilitated in 1986–89 and is now a civic symbol of city pride and local democracy.
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