Hotel Utah celebrates 100 years with new online photo collection

Just in time for Thursday's 100th anniversary of the Hotel Utah, the J. Willard Marriott Library has made public and available online a 2,000-piece photograph and manuscript archive featuring the hotel. The archive is housed in the library's special collections department.

The archive, available http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/az_details.php?id=95, also can be viewed in special collections on the library's fourth floor. In addition to photographs, it includes menus, china patterns and numerous other documents.

The 10-story hotel at 15 E. South Temple took two years to build before it was christened on June 9, 1911, according to a news release. As many as 550 workers built the structure under the direction of the Parkinson and Bergstron architecture firm.

Granite and porcelain-glazed, pure-white terra cotta distinguish the hotel's exterior, which is also known for an ornate white dome in the shape of a beehive, Utah's symbol, according to the release.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns the hotel, later converted it for church use and renamed it the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

A ribbon-cutting for an exhibit celebrating the hotel's history will begin at the building at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir will perform.

Friday night, community leaders will speak at an invitation-only anniversary gala.