This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Even people who longingly remember the Joseph Smith Memorial Building as the Hotel Utah admire the restoration work completed in 1993 by the architectural firm FFKR and the interior design by architect Magda Jakovcev-Ulrich.

Fondly remembered as the "Queen of Color," Jakovcev, 48, died July 17 of breast cancer. This evening friends will gather in celebration of her life at 6 p.m. at her home, 235 N. East Capitol Boulevard.

Described by her husband, architect M. Louis Ulrich, as "a modernist, believing that cities were made not of pattern books, but dynamic new interpretation of our times," Jakovcev was meticulous in her research of the time and designs used in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, as well as other projects including the Cowles Building at the University of Utah; the Physical Education Building at Southern Utah University; the Noyes Building at Snow College; and the Mariposa and Royal Street Cafe at Deer Valley.

In her residential work, Jakovcev worked one-on-one with clients.

"We planned the house together," James Okland said of his home, featured in the spring 2004 edition of Utah Style & Design .

"I would tell her what I was thinking and she knew how to put it on paper. If she thought I was going off-track, she would tell me. And I listened."

Jakovcev also worked with Carolyn Abravanel in replicating Maurice Abravanel's home studio in the David Gardner Hall Music Building at the U.

"I had the dream of what I wanted, but Magda made it a reality with her insight and unending patience with me. It is a tribute to Maurice, but it also is a tribute to one very special lady who will be dearly missed," Abravanel said.

Jakovcev was born Jan. 8, 1956, in Zadar, Croatia, to Biserka and Niko Jakovcec. She graduated from the University of Zagreb in Croatia with a bachelor's degree in architecture and received a master's in architecture from the University of Utah in 1983. She married Ulrich in 1987.

She was a member of the Salt Lake City Landmark Committee and the Utah Arts Festival Board and taught architecture at the U. She is survived by her husband, mother, brother, Frane (Jasenka) and nephews Luka, Donat, Niko and Marin Zadar.

A funeral Mass will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, 331 E. South Temple.