The first location of Salt Lake's
Equitable Life and Casualty was housed in the old Eagle's lodge building on 4th
South and West Temple. According to this website Roderick
Ross had established the company in said location in 1948. The building itself did not seem the ideal
for the insurance business - at least not with the Eagle's Lodge floor plan. Perhaps in the late 1940's it didn't matter that
the building contained skinny stairs and a balcony, but it seemed quite inappropriate
in the 1980s.
My dad had been hired as a computer
programmer. I think he used a different
entrance to the building than the majority of workers. On occasion I had opportunity to visit him at
his place of work. As a child I remember seeing parts of what I believed to be
the basement. My dad worked with one those
huge wall-to-wall computers (or maybe
several) that may have well taken up the majority of the basement. It is the break room that I remember most. I remember tables were set up and at least two
different vending machines. One was
quite tiny and offered tiny bottled drinks that cost a dime. Another machine offered cigarettes. I don't remember seeing any other part of the
building until I was employed there myself.
Good grief! What a mess! I remember
the file cabinets were located on the balcony.
The layout of the office space had not been planned. File cabinets were added and continued to
crowd the already closeted feeling workspace.
I remember looking out over the floor below the balcony thinking how
everything seemed disarray and congested.
The building itself may have been a prime location when it housed the
Eagles or even when the Insurance Company took over. However, the
neighborhood itself had seemed to go
downhill - even with the Sheraton Hotel owning property just beyond the building on the corner.
There was a building sandwiched
between the Equitable building and the Sheraton parking lot. I don't know if it had a name. Most people unfondly called it "Bum Motel"
as there were many residents that seemed to lack ethics and made a habit of
getting drunk. I recall dad coming home
from work one time to report that a drunk had fallen out of the window and
landed on somebody's car. The drunk was
so intoxicated, he was able to walk away.
The car was severely damaged. I was told that Ross' had tried to buy
them out and had speculated that Sheraton had tried to buy out the owner as
well, but the owner wouldn't budge.
I had not worked at said location for
long. The company moved to a much nicer
building, nicer location and much bigger parking lot. The building that had once housed the Eagles
and then Equitable was eventually purchased by a company that turned it into a
dance hall of sorts. It was called
"The Bay". I remember having
gone there just one time. It appeared
that the structure must have been gutted out an rebuilt. As I recall the
interior did not remotely resemble the building I had been familiar with
several years before.
The outside still looks the same. I don't know if it is currently occupied or not. This site says it is a historical landmark. I
found this picture on google map
From the outside, the building looks the
same as it did in 1948. The picture I had used in this post didn't appear to have ownership either but
contains advertisement to put your name here.
I don't know if it was advertized on the building itself or just the
photo that I used. The Google picture
doesn't have a name on the building. I
have noticed at least two other vacant buildings during my search.
I also learned that 400 South is now
called University Boulevard - which I guess could have been its name for the
last twenty years. I didn't realize it had been given that name until I started doing research for my assignment. It was probably named so after UTA started using the trains. The building seems like it would be a good location as it is next to TRAX (Utah's extended public transportation) but still may not be the greatest part of town. I don't know this for sure. I'm not there anymore.
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