Two weeks ago, Starbucks opened shop on the ground floor of the 120-year-old Crandall Building in the exact spot where, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Utah "gentiles" huddled in the Tea Room to pass the time and maybe a little scuttlebutt.
If walls could talk the Crandall Building, originally known as the McCornick Building, would have a lot to say. It’s seen Utah’s entrance into the Union, women’s suffrage and the Great Depression — even the Olympics. It’s seen trolley tracks come and go and come back. It’s seen the horse and buggy give way to the Tin Lizzie, the sedan, and, finally, the SUV.
Salt Lake City’s early planning policies encouraged the placement of prominent buildings on corners, explained Kirk Huffaker, executive director of the Utah Heritage Foundation.
Crandall and Epperson have spent the past 10 years or so bringing the building back to its former glory, including tearing off exterior siding from a 1959 remodel and restoring the red sandstone at street level.
City Creek and the Performing Arts Center will help bring a new era downtown, Epperson said, and the Crandall Building will be part of it. Salt Lake Tribune
