1172 East 100 South
Salt Lake City, UT, USA

National Register of Historic Places - William A. Nelden House

Statement of Significance:

The architect of the Wm. A. Nelden House at 1172 East First South was Frederick A. Hale. Mr. Hale was a prominent architect in Salt Lake City and the intermountain area from 1880 until his death in 1934. Roger Bailey, professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Utah, described Mr. Hale's designs as having a "classic air in a Victorian period.

Frederick A. Hale was born in Rochester, New York December 25, 1855. In 1860 he came to the Pike's Peak Region in Colorado where his father ran a gold mill. He received his primary education in Central City, Colorado. In 1864 he returned to Rochester for further education. Mr. Hale won a scholarship to Cornell University where he studied architecture for two years. In 1880 he returned to Denver, Colorado, and joined a lead- ing architecture firm there. He began his own practice three years later. Walter Ware, another Utah architect was an apprentice to Mr. Hale in Denver.

In 1890 Fred A. Hale was called to Salt Lake City to design and superintend a modern commercial building. He stayed to build a successful practice here. Buildings attributed to Frederick A. Hale in Salt Lake City are:
F. Auerbach Bros. Block; Commercial National Bank Building; Beason Block; Summit Block; Eagle Block; American Linen Supply Company; Public Library; Alta Club; Masonic Lodge; Elks Club; Continental Bank (his last building, only partially completed); Keith-O'Brien Building; David Keith residence; Ivers residence; Daly residence; Salis- bury residence; Nelden residence.

Mr. Hale designed churches, schools, commercial buildings, and residences in Denver, Pueblo, Aspen, Boulder, and Fort Collins, Colorado. He was the architect of buildings in Wyoming. The Wm. A. Nelden House was featured in an 1895 souvenir guide entitled "In the Shadow of Moroni", written by Leonard Fowler.
The Nelden residence was designed by Mr. Hale in the Georgian Revival or Neo-Colonial style. "Neo-Colonial architecture is strictly rectangular in plan, has a minimum of minor projections, and strictly symmetrical facades. The roofs are hipped, double pitched, or of gambrel forms; eaves are detailed as classical cornices; chimneys are placed to contribute to overall symmetry. The central part of the facade may project slightly and be crowned with a pediment...more rarely a portico with free-standing columns may form the central feature. The standard form of window in the secular building is the double-hung sash.

Georgian Revival in Utah occurred in the mid-1890s and declined before World War I. The Nelden residence is one of Utah's earliest and purest examples of Georgian Revival architecture.