635 East 100 South
Salt Lake City, UT, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Royle House

Statement of Significance:

The Royle House is significant as one of the finest examples of the Italianate style in Salt Lake City and as the residence of Jonathan C. and Eliza K. Royle. Built-in about 1875, the structure was one of the earliest "high style" houses constructed along First South, a section that grew into a prestigious residential area during the latter decades of the nineteenth century. As one of the finest of the relatively few examples of residential Italianate architecture in Salt Lake, the Royle house is one of only two frame adaptations of the style identified in the city.* Others identified and listed in the National Register from Salt Lake City include the Charles R. Savage and Howe C. Wallace houses, Avenues Historic District; the Lewis S. Hills Residence; David McDonald House; John M. Whitaker House; and 390 Quince Street, Capitol Hill Historic District, all constructed of brick, stone, or adobe. The Royle house incorporates almost all of the architectural elements that were characteristic of the local expression of this style--two-story main block with truncated and standard hip roofs; wide overhanging eaves with brackets; wide frieze; and tall, narrow windows. The house also served for over thirty years as the home of Jonathan and Eliza Royle, prominent social leaders in the legal, cultural, and religious affairs of the community. Jonathan Royle was active as a mining attorney, having served as a member of the legal .counsel in the famous Emma Mine litigation which had international ramifications, affecting British and American stockholders and entrepreneurs. He also helped to organize the First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City. Eliza Royle played an important role in the early cultural development of the city as an organizer and first president of the Ladies Literary Club.

*The other frame Italianate residence is the Myer House which is currently on the Utah State Register and may be nominated to the National Register pending the outcome of current restoration work.
This house was probably built around 1875 for Jonathan C. and Eliza K. Royle. Jonathan Royle was born on October 30, 1828, in Lexington, Kentucky. As a youth, he assisted his father in the family's woolen manufacturing business, attending school when he was able. His family later moved to Lexington, Missouri, where he studied law in the office of Judge Wood, whom he formed a partnership with after being admitted to the bar in 1853. In 1857, he married Eliza Kirtley, daughter of Captain Sinclair Kirtley, of Lexington, Missouri. Royle continued to practice law in that state, and even served as circuit attorney of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, until the start of the Civil War. At that time, he joined the Confederacy with a commission as a judge advocate general with the rank of colonel, serving under General Sterling Price. At the close of the war, he crossed the plains by mule team with his young family, settling in Central City, Colorado. There he set up his law practice and soon established himself as one of the leading mining attorneys in the area. In 1869 the Royles moved to San Jose, California for the sake of Mrs. Royle's health. The following year Royle was invited to Salt Lake City to serve as a member of the legal counsel in the famous Emma Mine litigation. The Emma Silver Mine was started in 1868 at Alta and became the first big producer in Little Cottonwood Canyon and the Wasatch Mountains. A legal uproar ensued when the mine dried up, leaving stockholders from England and America, who had invested over four million dollars, as victims of "one of the great swindles of the nineteenth century." He was in Salt Lake City only one month before forming a partnership with Thomas Marshall, a man very much like himself: a native Kentuckian, a Gentile, and a prominent mining attorney. Marshall was the nephew of Chief Justice John Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court. Their partnership, Marshall & Royle, was one of the most successful in the area and lasted until Mr. Marshall's death in 1906. Among their clients were the Central Pacific Railroad and Wells, Fargo, and Company.

"Judge" Royle was not only a prominent attorney, but an important leader in his religious community as well. He was one of the organizers and first members of the First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City and served as a prominent elder in that church for many years.

Mrs. Eliza K. Royle was most noted for her activity in women's organizations. She was one of the organizers of the Ladies' Literary Club and served as its first president. A gifted speaker, she was often called upon to address the group and served as a "spokesman" for the group in its early years. She also served as honorary vice-president of the National Federation of Women's Clubs. The Ladies Literary Club was founded in 1877 in Salt Lake City at a time when the "women's club movement" was sweeping the nation. It was founded by a group of women who disliked the exclusive nature of the existing clubs, and who felt "that a club should stand for the education of many rather than culture for a few...." The Club continued to the present serving as a cultural center for women of the community.

The Royles apparently had this house built about 1875, after having lived at various addresses the previous three years. At the time this house was built, it was probably one of the finest houses in the area and was one of the first of the many distinguished residences that were built along First South Street during the ensuing decades. Neighboring "mansions" were subsequently built by Utah Governor Simon Bamberger (623 East 100 South), Salt Lake City Mayor Francis Armstrong (667 East 100 South), and prominent businessmen 0. J. Salisbury (574 East 100 South), and Peter W. Madsen (615 East 100 South), to mention a few. The Royles, along with their four children, made this house their family home for over thirty-two years. In 1907, probably while their new house was being built in the Avenues, the Royles lived in the Brown Apartments at 243 South 300 East. From 1908 until Jonathan's death, Eliza Royle apparently either continued to live in this house with her daughter, Martha or moved to New York to live with one of her sons. Little is known of her death.

The Royle children, like their parents, were also prominent in their chosen fields; however, they all moved out of the state. Jonathan C. Royle, Jr., a prominent journalist, worked for the Salt Lake Herald in 1907, then went on to distinguish himself in New York City, serving as editor of U.S. Daily News, and as founder of Business News Service, a company he headed until his death in 1934. Another son, Edwin M. Royle, was a noted dramatist who wrote many well-known plays around the turn of the century, the most notable of which is The Squaw Man. He, too, made his home in New York City where he died in 1942. The third son, Sinclair Royle, also established himself in New York City and became a noted surgeon. He was a former student of the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, now Westminster College. The Royle's only daughter, Martha, married Salt Lake newspaperman Eugene B. Palmer, who later became an investment banker and moved to San Francisco. Martha Royle Palmer, like her mother, was also very active in the Ladies Literary Club, holding several offices and forming the dramatic section.

Thomas J. Osborn, who bought the house in 1908, was also an attorney and may have been one of the many young lawyers who were trained by Jonathan Royle. Osborne died in 1918, four months after selling this house and moving to Pioche, Nevada, where he had become involved in mining.
William and Emma L. Armstrong bought this house in 1919 and lived here for twenty-one years. Emma Louise Armstrong Armstong (d. 1957) was the daughter of Isabella S. and Francis Armstong, former mayor of Salt Lake City, whose house was nearby at 679 East 100 South. The Francis Armstong family owned much property in the southeast corner of this block, and several family members lived in the neighborhood at various times during the early decades of the twentieth century. William Armstrong (1870-1942) was a Mormon convert from Australia who came to Salt Lake City in 1888 at the age of 18. For a short time after his marriage to Emma in 1901, he was employed by his father-in-law's company, Taylor, Romney, and Armstrong Lumber Company. He soon established himself with Noall Brothers and Armstong Lumber Company, where he served as secretary-treasurer for many years until his retirement in 1938. He also served as bishop of the 11th Ward for several years.

After the Armstrongs sold the house in 1940, it was converted first into a duplex, then, soon after, into four apartments. The house remained as rental property over the next twenty years as it changed hands several times. In 1964, Gary F. and Nadine A. Riddle bought the house and have continued to rent it out up to the present (1982).