The Right Place
You must be in The Right Place, the blog of Brenda Case (Bree) Scheer, an architect, planner, urban designer and researcher. “The Right Place” comes from a quote of Brigham Young‘s when he arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Sick, and having traveled for many miles over incredibly difficult terrain, Young, then Prophet of the Mormons, looked over the valley and declared, “this is the right place”. Thus, the valley was illegally usurped and a flood of white people came to settle it. But whoa…
Brenda Case Scheer is a professor emeritus and former dean of the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah. For many years she studied urban form, especially in its historical context. She has traveled extensively and lived in many different places, observing the operation and success stories of cities: what works, what is a wrong turn? Please follow me on Twitter or Instagram to stay in touch. @brendascheer
Landmarks: Unanimous support for National Register Nomination of Abravanel Hall
But the fight is not over yet. Last night, the Salt Lake City Landmarks Commission unanimously approved a recommendation to nominate Abravanel Hall for the National Register of Historic Places. Many people testified to the merits and emotional connection they had to the building, including several of the Utah Symphony musicians. That’s all very, very…
Salt Lake City Convention Center Revitalization: New Hyatt Regency and Ballroom
The Salt Lake City Convention Center used to occupy the corner, as it looks in this photo. Now a new Hyatt Regency commands the corner, taking some of the space of the CC but providing the “convention center hotel” that boosters have been wanting for many years. Since the pandemic, conventions have changed, with most…
Alternative to Tearing Down Abravanel Hall
This morning on Radio West, the fate of Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah was discussed. Doug Fabrizio interviewed four of the key players. It is definitely worth a listen. Notably, Mike Maughn of Smith Entertainment Group refused over and over to state SEG’s preferences, leaving it all in the hands of Salt Lake…
Transparency! she said.
Here is the text of the #SEG zoning amendment testimony to @SLCCouncil Tuesday night (8/12): The Salt Lake Tribune also commented on this here. The Planning Commission turned this proposal down in a dramatic Unanimous vote and There is one simple reason why – we believe that the public deserves to see the plan for how their…
The Price of Preservation
Abravanel Hall and Salt Lake County Master Plan Back before all the kerfuffle with Abravanel Hall started, Salt Lake County commissioned a master plan for the renovation and expansion of the building from local architects Sparano and Mooney (just a note, I am friends with the principals and think they are great designers). The process…
Seeing Straight
One of the primary goals of Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City and the SEG (Smith Entertainment. Group) is to create a better pedestrian connection from West Temple to the Delta Center. Right now there is an overbuilt convention center in the way. The SEG plan calls for building a new street that plows a…
