529 E S Temple St
Salt Lake City, UT, USA

National Register of Historic Places - David Keith Mansion and Carriage House

Statement of Significant:

Built of Sanpete limestone in 1898-1900, this three-story mansion was designed by Frederick Albert Hale, who was also architect for the Alta Club, the Salisbury Mansion, the Salt Lake Public Library (Hansen Planetarium), the Continental Bank Building, and the Administration Building for the University of Wyoming

With wealth obtained from his interests in the Silver King Coalition Mines at Park City, Mr. David Keith built his lovely mansion on Brigham Street in Salt Lake City, where he lived with his wife and son until I9I6. The property was then sold to Ezra Thompson, whose family lived in the home until 1939.

The Thompson's daughter, Norinne, then wife of H. Ross Brown, lived in the home between 1939 and I968 when Terracor Corporation received from them a twenty-five-year lease on the property. The company has since spent over $250,000 in restoration and renovation. The company now uses i t for business purposes.

This mansion and carriage house reflect the quality living in early twentieth century Utah, made possible because of the wealth of Park City's mines.

David Keith, the youngest of fourteen children, was born in Nova Scotia in 1847. Twenty years later he set sail for California to seek his fortune. His mining know-how and business acumen produced limited rewards there and in Virginia City, Nevada. Because he was an authority on water sumps, he was later employed at Park City, Utah in I883. There, in cooperation with Thomas Kearns and others, he helped build the Silver King Coalition Mines Company, which extracted some ten and one-quarter million dollars’ worth of mineral between 1892 and I907.

With this affluence, Keith and Kearns became influential in Utah, financing and publishing the new Salt Lake Tribune, building lovely homes, developing businesses, and making charitable contributions. Both men were Tiembers of Utah's Constitutional Convention.

Keith died in 1918. His wife followed in death soon after, leaving the business empire to their son, David

The home is important because of its quality architecture, because it tells much of the mining wealth's story in Utah, and because David Keith was himself a prominent figure in the American West's history.