by Jim Dalrymple

Demolition for the Utah Performing Arts Center is underway on Main Street. While that means downtown will be kind of a mess for quite a while, it also exposed an interesting old facade on one of the buildings.

This picture shows what the buildings looked like back in November:

 

 

 

 

And here’s what it looks like now:

The building that has the yellow covering on the front in the first picture is the same one that has a fairly impressive arch in the second picture. That yellow covering was made out of some sort of vinyl-like material so I always wondered what was underneath. Turns out, it was a pretty cool building.

I have no idea why this building was covered up; clearly the facade wasn’t in great shape though I’d be curious to know what led to its deterioration.

In any case, it’s interesting to see historic layers of the city uncovered as it continues to grow. Also, don’t get too attached to that arch; along with the surrounding buildings it will be demolished soon.

(Cross posted from About Town.)