I have written before about the Inn at Temple Square. It has been the second closest hotel to the famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Thousands of genealogists have been guests at this hotel. I stayed in the hotel several times and always liked the place. Sadly, the Inn at Temple Square is no more.
The LDS Church started major demolition on Monday. An excavator's claws ripped off bricks from the 75-year-old Salt Lake City hotel and began scraping concrete. By the end of January, the once-seven-story building will be razed to the ground. By 2011, as part of the LDS Church's City Creek Center project, a 26-story residential tower with 122 units will stand in the inn's place at the corner of West Temple and South Temple.
You can read more about this story in the Salt Lake Tribune's web site at http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_4865131?source=rv.
My thanks to Lee Drew for letting me know about the story.
Before the LDS Church upgaded the hotel to its recent nice condition it used to be a commercial hotel with a great, quick (and cheap) restaurant. I stayed there many times years ago (in the 70s) but I can't remember the original name, can anyone?
Ann Andersen
Posted by: Ann Andersen | December 20, 2006 at 08:25 AM
It's a shame (and somewhat ironic?) that with such a sense of family history, the LDS feels so little need to preserve buildings of historic significance.
Posted by: lizzie1950 | December 20, 2006 at 09:02 AM
Prior to the renovations it was simply called the Temple Square Hotel. As I recall, an extremely small single room during the week was well under $30 back in the mid-to-late 70s. As my wife would say, "You would have to leave the room to change your mind."
Posted by: Dick Doherty | December 20, 2006 at 09:32 AM