Our First Day in Salt Lake City

In June 2024, Debra and I took a road trip from northern Arizona through central Utah - from our home in Show Low to Salt Lake City. Why Salt Lake City? To renew our wedding vows in our Golden Anniversary year! We did a bit of sightseeing, too. Click HERE to read an intro to our trip.

Our ceremony was perfect and the sights we saw were amazing!

This story, the third in a series, is about the sights we saw on our first day in Salt Lake City.   

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Salt Lake City, Utah (June 15, 2024) Several weeks back, when I looked at lodging in Salt Lake City, I felt we should splurge—after all, we would celebrate our Golden Anniversary on the 16th, a once-in-a-lifetime event, by renewing our vows at a ceremony in nearby Draper. So, Debra and I booked a three-night stay at The Grand America Hotel, “known for its opulent European-style décor, luxurious amenities, and excellent service.”

It is also the city’s only AAA Five Diamond hotel.
  
Our Executive View Suite, located on the 19th floor of the Grand America Tower, was 880 square feet—about one-third the size of our home—with French doors that separated the bedroom from the living area. There were two sliding glass doors, one in each room, which opened to a small balcony that offered panoramic views of downtown and the Wasatch Mountains. 

The living area was well-appointed, with hand-crafted Richelieu furniture, an overstuffed couch and two chairs, and a leather-top desk, while the bathroom included a marble-tiled tub AND separate marble-tiled shower.  

(I “borrowed” these pics from the hotel’s website, as they are superior to any of the photos I snapped. Hopefully, ‘management’ won’t mind, as their photos might entice you to book a similar suite at Grand America.)

Sure, our choice was (perhaps) self-indulgent, but our suite was exquisite, and with hindsight I can say that Debra and I had… 

THE BEST HOTEL EXPERIENCE EVER!

Maybe it was the beautiful hotel…or maybe it was the weather—the afternoon temperature was in the mid-90s—but we did not venture out on our first day in SLC. Still, we managed a bit of sightseeing, first from our balcony and then…well, you’ll see. 

We could not help but notice the large white building across the street (the one in the center of the left-hand photo above), which we learned was the five-story Scott M. Matheson Courthouse—named for the 12th governor of Utah. It houses the Utah Supreme Court, Third District Court, and Court of Appeals, as well as the Utah State Library.

There are two symmetrical wings, one on either side of a central circular colonnade topped by a dome. The façade is made of limestone, steel and glass. When it was completed in 1998, it was the largest public building built since the Utah State Capitol.

Here is what the front of the Courthouse looks like. Clearly, I did not snap this pic from our balcony. Rather, I took this photo the next day on my walking tour of downtown SLC.  

“Debra, take a look at that building,” I said as I pointed to the right of the Courthouse.”

“How interesting,” she replied. “I wonder if it’s a cathedral.”

Although it looked like a cathedral, instead it was the Salt Lake City and County Building, which was constructed in the 1890s to house city and county officials. The design is ‘Richardsonian Romanesque,’ named after a 19th century American architect who incorporated 11th and 12th century French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque characteristics—arches, columns, recessed entrances, towers with conical caps, and more.

I zoomed in on the statue that sat atop the clock tower, half a mile away and more than 250 feet in the air. (I love the 100x zoom on my Galaxy S24 Ultra!) The figure is Columbia, the “personification of the United States since before its creation as a country.” Columbia, like the Statue of Liberty, was based on the Roman Goddess Libertas.  

I chuckled when I read, “The building was monstrously over budget.” Yes, the final cost, about $900,000, was more than twice the winning bid, but...even on an inflation-adjusted basis—$900,000 is the equivalent of $33 million today—the cost to build the Salt Lake City and Country Building would seem to have been a bargain.

Many saw this building (and maybe some still do) as a “symbol of non-Morman defiance against the LDS church” because its design included “a clock tower and statues that mimic the Salt Lake Temple.”    

I stretched my eyes towards the furthest point downtown I could see.

What’s that? I wondered as I trained my zoom lens on a more distant building.

“Debra, I think I found a cathedral.”

In fact, I had.​

The Cathedral of the Madeleine, completed in 1909, is the mother church for Roman Catholics in the State of Utah. The Neo-Romanesque exterior is much the same as it was when built, but the Neo-Gothic interior is a different story—every aspect was renovated and restored in the 1990s.

I would have loved to have visited this cathedral, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, but like many other SLC attractions, there just wasn’t enough time to do so.

Someday, if I return…, I thought.  

And then we turned our sights inward, as in ‘inside The Grand America Hotel,’ which boasts “museum-quality paintings, sculptures, and antiques…hand-selected with great care by the Hotel’s owners, the Holding Family.”

The Holding’s dedicated time and attention to each selection, and thoughtfully chose each piece’s placement within the hotel. From the soaring chandeliers to the marble beneath your feet, every surface of The Grand America Hotel holds a story waiting to be told.

~ The Grand America Hotel

Debra and I went on a self-guided tour through the lobby and first-floor corridors, aided by an online guide, Art Tour of the Grand, which included a description of many of the treasures we saw, including the ones that follow.

Antique French Desk: Antique French desk with bronze ormolu trim and inset leather top. Ormolu is an 18th century English term for applying finely ground, high-karat gold to an object in bronze. 

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Barovier Chandeliers: Made especially for the Grand America, each chandelier is crafted of hand-blown glass on the island of Murano near Venice Italy. Barovier and Tosco have been in the chandelier business for 900 years. The Holding family met with Mr. Barovier, a descendant of the original founders, and together they designed the chandeliers on display.

Tapestries (below left): Granted a royal charter in 1665, the Aubusson Royal Manufactory became one of France’s major outputers of fine tapestry art. The Grand America’s collection features different pieces from this booming period of Aubusson artisans in the mid-to-late 18th century.

Oil Paintings (above right): Henri Bouvet was known for the emotional sensitivity he brought to his subjects, the way he captured how light changed and object, and how different perspectives come with different seasons. This painting, Le Tea (Tea Time, 1906), depicts the artist’s family sitting down at teatime. Widely considered one of Bouvet’s most masterful paintings, it hung in the artist’s home for many years.

It was a treat to explore this tiny museum. What it lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality.
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(The tour was free of charge, so if you’re ever in SLC with free time…)

We had dinner at Laurel Brasserie & Bar—it was the only restaurant we dined at throughout our three-day stay in SLC. Why? Because every meal was delicious, and the service was impeccable!
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After dinner, we listened to a pianist in the lobby at Little America Hotel—a sister hotel to The Grand America Hotel—and then enjoyed a beautiful sunset from our balcony. 

Debra and I had a wonderful day from start to finish—a great start to our weekend in Salt Lake City!