Horace W. Burgon House, 7501 South 700 East, Union

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS UTAH,18-UNION,1-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The structure is a good example of the bunga- low house type which was popular in and around Utah urban areas during the first quarter of the century. This house is an eclectic style bungalow built by one or more members of the Burgon family, a locally prominent family of construction contractors in Union, Utah. The structure reflects a type and style of home that gained widespread popularity in Utah in the and and was so widely built that bungalows still dominate portions of urban Utah.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS UTAH,18-UNION,1-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Michael R. Polk, Sagebrush Archaeological Consultants, Ogden, Utah. May Horace W. Burgon Reskteaaee HABS No. UT-129 (page 2) H. HISTORY A. Settlement of Union Fort Following the initial Mormon settlement of the Salt Lake Valley in July, Brigham Young, spiritual and secular leader of the new settlers, ordered explora- tion and, eventually, colonization of many areas beyond Salt Lake City. In eight families settled on Little Cottonwood Creek, 12 miles southeast1 of the center of Salt Lake City, in the vicinity of what was to become Union Fort.

This settle- ment was one of a series of Mormon communities that were established as part of a colonizing effort between and both within and beyond the present state of Utah.2 The first eight colonists were joined by almost the same number of families in when a log school house was built for the community. By the community on Little Cottonwood Creek had grown to 273 and, in that year, the people of the community built a fort to protect themselves from Indians.3 The fort was torn down a few years later, but retained the name "Union Fort" (later short- ened to "Union") which had been acquired during its short existence. The majority of the early 4settlers were American bom with the remainder from the British Isles and Ireland.

Interestingly, this ratio changed to a largely European population by largely due to a discontinuation of Mormon proselytizing in the eastern United States and an increased missionizing effort in Europe/ The community grew slowly during its first few decades of existence. The conver- sion of unbroken land to farms and the construction of a series of canals to water the land was a very difficult process.

Men and boys were expected to donate a tenth of their time (known as "tithing labor") to construct many ditches used to carry water from Little Cottonwood Creek to farms and to grade and maintain county roads in the community.6 In the first few decades of existence activities in the Union Fort community largely consisted of subsistence farming and working on community projects such as expansion of the canal and road system. Eventually, small houses of adobe brick replaced log cabins and barns, granaries and other buildings were erected on farmsteads.7 A series of six different school houses 8 were constructed in Union between and the last being built of brick.

The establishment of both the Union Precinct and Union (Mormon Church) Ward in were a sign that the community was growing.9 By this time Union had acquired an excellent north-south highway route (the State Territorial Road) and the Utah Southern Railroad, which was constructed south from Salt Lake City to nearby Sandy and beyond in 1871,11both on its west side.10 By the population of Union stood at 484 individuals. The early population of Union was largely agrarian, but by only 46 percent of the men over 21 years of age were listed as "farmers"12in the census. The next largest group were "laborers" in various occupations.

A diversification of the economy in Union was apparently well underway by this time, likely spurred by the coming of the railroad and especially the work available in mines and in local smelters in nearby Sandy and Murray. The expansion of the business communi- ty in Union also added to the alternatives available to farming.14 Horace W. Burgon teidgJffi HABS No. UT-129 (page 3) This economic diversification accelerated in the late and into the early Increased opportunities for non-farm work became available during this period including jobs in transportation, sheep operations, and construction. 5 As the population increased there was an increased need for construction of new schools, churches, public buildings and smelters.

More prosperous families in the community also began to replace pioneer adobe structures with larger more sub- stantial ones about this time. This trend coincided with the rise in popularity of Victorian homes in Utah in the and Union continued to grow during the first half of the century though it never incorporated as did several cities around it including Murray, Sandy and Midvale. As the population grew, many new homes and businesses were built. Following a national trend, a large number of bungalows were built here and elsewhere in Utah during the and As Salt Lake Valley grew as a whole, the areas in and around Union became more and more urbanized, eventually eliminating most of the farmland in Union.

Today the area is largely a community of residential homes and small mercantile businesses. B. The Horace W. Burgon Residence Horace W. Burgon was born September 7, the son of Willard C. Burgon and Emma16M. Crouch, English converts to Mormonism who immigrated to Utah in Horace*s father, Willard Burgon, was a prominent citizen of Union, Utah who served as Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Bishop of the Union Vfaidt Jordan Stake, and eventually rose far in the LDS Church leadership.

He also learned the trade of stone and brick masonry on the Temple Block in Salt Lake City, a skill which eventually launched him into a career of construction later in the century.17 Willard Burgon built many church, school and private buildings in southern Salt Lake County including the Union and Granite LDS Ward Houses and the community meeting houses in Sandy and Riverton.18 He eventually formed the Burgon Building and Mercantile Company in Union of which many of his sons appear to have been a part, including Horace. Horace Burgon and his three brothers, Charles W, Heber J. and Albert E., all worked as masons as early as All apparently continued to work as masons for some time after this date in their father's contracting20business.

Horace married Mary Alice Graham iu and they had four children. By Horace appar- ently tired of the masonry business and became an assistant teacher at Jordan High School.21 He continued teaching until at Midvale, Union and Butler Schools and, for three years during that time, was also a principal.22 In and he was listed as a worker in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple,23 but he later returned to teaching at Sandy Junior High School from to at least (excluding Sometime after this Burgon moved to Richmond, California where he died in The land the Horace W. Burgon home stands on was originally purchased by Horace's father Willard Burgon in Willard built a home there in the late which still stands at 743927South 700 East.26 It was modified early in this century to a Neo-classical style.

Horace's home stands two addresses south of # Horace W. Burgon SSS&Jeftce HABS No. UT-129 (page 4) his father's former residence at South 700 East. This structure is a one story eclectic style bungalow which was built in probably by the Burgons. The Burgon family retained ownership of the Horace Burgon residence from until the mid Improvements to the property have been few, but several outbuildings are known to have been added a few years after the house was built. In a stable was built and about a coop was added. A garage was also constructed sometime after the None of these structures have survived to the present day. m.

Architectural Perspective

The Horace W. Burgon residence is an example of both the bungalow cottage (house type) and the bungalow style, one of the most popular and commonly built type of houses in Utah. There are hundreds, if not thousands of examples of the bungalow cottage still extant, primarily in Utah's urban neighborhoods. The popularity of the bungalow in Utah is a reflection of its popularity nationwide. A description of its beginnings and growth in Utah is provided by Hagland and Notarianni: The name bungalow, borrowed from Hindustani, was used by British colonists [in India] early in the nineteenth century to refer to a low house surrounded by a verandah.

As the type was popularized, especially in early twentieth century California, it came to mean a small, single story house with a broad gable roof and full-width front porch. Often the plan was compressed, with the entry opening directly into the combined living/dining room. In many ways the bungalow reflected the persistence of the single family house, by offering the smallest possible realization of the ideal type. Although its horizontal massing results both from its size and from the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement, the bungalow developed into a type as well as a style.

It came in a number of variations, including Cali- fornia, Chicago or Prairie, Swiss, and Tudor.30 The rapid and widespread construction of bungalows in the United States was, in part, due to the structural flexibility of the design and the fact that this flexibility made it possible to build rows 31 of these homes without exactly repeating the same form, even within the same block. More importantly, however, variations of the bungalow were published in popular national and regional pattern books and home-improvement maga- zines. In fact, most Utah bungalows were built by local contractors who followed these published ideas.32 Such access to low cost plans and the simple nature of the structures allowed lower costs in construction as well.

Thus, it is not surprising that these homes are most commonly found in large numbers in historic working class neighborhoods. Downtown Ogden represents the best example of this trend. The largest concentration of bungalows in Utah were constructed in this city during the and As with most types and styles of architecture, the appearance of the bungalow in Utah lagged behind more populous sections of the country by five to ten years. Throughout most of America the bungalow began to grow in popularity in and continued to be I Horace W. Burgon .tektere HABS No.

UT-129 (page 5) built until about In Utah, it did not make an appearance until but con- tinued to be built here until at least Many examples of the form, indeed entire neighborhoods, have been identified which extend the popular construction period of this form to between and There were three main types of bungalows built in Utah early in this century: The first has its narrow end placed toward the street and may have either a low pitched Prairie School style hipped roof or an Arts and Crafts style gable roof. The second type is one-and-a-half-story house characterized by a broad gable roof that projects out over the front porch. There is almost always a centrally placed dormer having either a shed or gable roof.

The third type of bungalow is a small gabled cottage fronted by a Bungalow style porch.35 The Horace W. Burgon residence represents the first of these types. In this sense bunga- low cottages are sometimes considered more a folk form than a formal type. The bungalow cottage in Utah was built in a variety of styles including Prairie, Neoclas- sical, T\jdor, Craftsman, Swiss Chalet, Mission, California and even a Bungalow style. Like many bungalows in Utah, the Burgon house represents an eclectic style, borrowing from a number of purer forms. Like the Bungalow style it is a one-story structure on a rectangular plan.

It also has a low-pitched Prairie style hipped roof and a projecting front porch supported by tapered porch posts.36 But, it has no casement windows (most are double hung), no dormers, and no projecting bays or stone pier porch supports. The presence and absence of typifying elements reflects the creative freedom that was taken with this form. In this sense the Burgon cottage is both typical and atypical of the bunga- low form in Utah. The bungalow, in all of its variations, combined a remarkable number of architectural elements in a wide variety of ways to create many different house forms. The many bungalow house pattern books published during this time period are a testament to this creativity.

They also serve to blur distinctions between houses built using architects' plans and those built from pattern books. IV.

Description

This structure is an eclectic style bungalow cottage with some Prairie style influence. The house is original brick masonry with wide overhanging eaves with wooden soffits and a hipped roof with wood shingles. It rests on a concrete foundation. The house has three interior regular brick chimneys, two of which are corbeled. The front of the house faces west. A partial front porch projects west from the house and is covered by the roof of the building. The front of the porch roof is supported by two large wood and brick piers, one located at each comer. The upper portion of the two supports consist of wooden battered pillars which, in turn, rest on square regular red brick piers. A brick porch railing is made of regular brick topped with a concrete cap.

Two concrete steps lead to the concrete porch landing. Horace W. Burgon RwaiUfeilfce- HABS No. UT-129 (page 6) The front of the house has a plain wooden entrance door with a concrete lintel. There is a large one-over-one fixed sash window in the porch area and a one-over-one double hung window with a plain wooden frame and lintel on the north side of the house. The south side of the house has two sets of windows with concrete lintels and a wooden addition with door and flanking windows. Beginning on the western portion of the south side there is a set of two one-over-one double hung windows flanking a two-light, fixed- sash window. East of that is a pair of double hung windows. On the southeast corner, of the house is a clapboard sided addition with shed roof porch cover.

A plain wooden door is located in the addition flanked by two fixed-sash six-light windows. The rear or east side of the house has an added wooden exterior cellar entrance, a con- crete cellar feature and two windows. The cellar entrance is a shed roof structure with a covered stairway, both of which are sheathed with clapboard siding. The cellar entrance has a wooden door with a single pane window inset in the upper portion and two re- cessed rectangular panels in the lower part. A low, arch-shaped, concrete and brick cellar projects out from the rear of the house. The cement used in the construction of the cellar was of poor quality. A rectangular fixed-sash window is inset in the east end of the cellar structure.

The two windows on the south side of the east facade include a single pane, fixed-sash opening and a two-light, double hung window, both with concrete lentils. The north side of the house has three window openings, all with concrete lintels. Two two-light double hung windows are found on the east and west portions of the facade. A single pane, fixed-sash window lies in the center. A hinged coal chute door was also noted on the lower edge of this side. Horace W. Burgon SmsAasec HABS No. UT-129 (page 7) Blottar 101 ItE-APPRAISAL CAItU * Owner's Name. fipraoe W. Burgon. * Desc. owt.tf.AAI Sandy #1. Utah Loc*ti , gift- Sgg J^jJLgBiJBLUL, Kind of Bulldln* *" Ko Schedule L clw X BUM Factor. \ff)f(AtJZ3jtt*. by {f.na Oriflnal Record- Apprulscd.. TE/.HAL KormT.C. T* Can!

No Stnte of Ubili Staic Tax Cummiuilnii Front and back of 37 tax appraisal card for Horace W. Burgon residence at South 700 East, Sandy, Utah. Horace W. Burgon Rgs 3&fee HABS No. UT-129 (page 8) V. ENDNOTES 1. Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Early Histories of Union Fort, Volumes I and II, Union Fort Camp, p. 1. 2. Eugene E. Campbell, "Yearly Colonization Patterns", Utah's History, edited by Richard D. Poll, Utah State University Press, Logan, p. 3. Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Early Histories of Union Fort, Volumes I and II, Union Fort Camp, Utah, p. 1; Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Tales of a Triumphant People, Stevens and Wallis Press, Salt Lake City, p. 4.

Gordon Ivor Irving, After the Pioneers: The Experience of Young Men in Union, Utah, Master's Thesis on file at the University of Utah Department of History, Salt Lake City, p. 35. 5. Ibid., p. 41. 6. Ibid., p. 33. 7. Ibid., p. 34. 8. Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Tales of a Triumphant People, Stevens and 'VfoUis Press, Salt Lake City, p. 9. Ibid., p. 10. Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: Economic History of the Latter-Day Saints University of Utah Press, Lincoln, p. 11. Gordon Ivor Irving, After the Pioneers: The experience of Young Men in Union, Utah, p. 41. 12. Ibid., p. 46. 13. Leonard J. Arrington, Abundance from the Early Earth: The Beginning of Commer- cial Mining in Utah, Utah Historical Quarterly: p. 14. Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Tales of Triumphant People, p. 15.

Gordon Ivor Irving, After the Pioneers: The Experience of Young Men in Union, Utah, p. 59. 16. Salt Lake Tribune, [Obituary of Horace W. Burgon], 27 January p. 24, col. 7; Andrew Jensen, Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 1, Western Epics, Salt Lake City, p. 17. Ibid. 18. Deseret News, "Prominent Citizen of Salt Lake County Dead", 20 February p. 3 of 2nd section, col. 3; Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Early Histories of Union Fort, p. Andrew Jensen, Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, vol. 1, p. Horace W. Burgon Rested HABS No. UT-129 (page 9) 19. Polk and Company, Salt Lake City Directory, Polk Publishers, Salt Lake City, p. 20. Salt Lake Tribune, [Obituary of Horace W. Burgon], p. 24, col. 7. 21. Polk and Company, Salt Lake Gty Directory, 22. Ibid., 23. Ibid., 24.

Ibid., 25. Salt Lake Tribune, [Obituary of Horace W. Burgon], p. 24, col. 7. 26. Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Early Histories of Union Fort, p. 27. Michael R. Polk. A Cultural Resources Survey of a Portion of East Bet- ween and South, Sandy and Salt Lake County, Utah, Archaeological Report No. Sagebrush Archaeological Consultants, Ogden, p. 7. 28. Salt Lake County Assessor's Office, Assessment Roll of Salt Lake County, Book H [On microfilm in Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City], Salt Lake City: Salt Lake County Assessor's Office, 29. Salt Lake County Assessor's Office, [tax appraisal cards and associated information for Burgon residence], Salt Lake City: Salt Lake County Archives, 30. Karl T.

Haglund and Phillip R Notarianni, The Avenues of Salt Lake City, Utah Historical Society, Salt Lake City, p. 63. 31. Herbert Gottfried and Jan Jennings, American \krnacular Design Iowa State University Press, Ames, p. 32. Thomas Carter and Peter Goss, Utah's Historical Architecture A Guide, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, p. 54. 33. Herbert Gottfried and Jan Jennings, American Sfcrnacular Design p. 34. Thomas Carter and Peter Goss, Utah's Historical Architecture A Guide, p. 54. 35. Ibid., p. 54. 36. Ibid., pp. 54, 37. Salt Lake County Assessor's Office, [tax appraisal cards and associated information for Burgon residence]. # Horace W. Burgon Reaade&ae HABS No. UT-129 (page 10) VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY A. BOOKS AND PUBLISHED

Sources

Arlington, Leonard J. Abundance from the Early Earth: The Beginning of Commercial Mining in Utah, Utah Historical Quarterly pp. Arrington, Leonard J. Great Basin Kingdom; Economic History of the Latter-Day Saints Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, Campbell, Eugene E. Yearly Colonization Patterns. In: Utah's History. Edited by Richard D. Poll, pp. Logan: Utah State University Press, Carter, Thomas and Peter Goss. Utah's Historical Architecture A Guide. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Early Histories of Union Fort. Volumes I and II. Union Fort Camp. Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Tales of a Triumphant People. Salt Lake City: Stevens and >\&llis Press, Gottfried, Herbert and Jan Jennings.

American \ernacular Design Ames: Iowa State University Press, Haglund, Karl T. and Philip R Notarianni. The Avenues of Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Society, Jensen, Andrew. Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia. 4 Volumes. Salt Lake City: Western Epics, R. L. Polk and Company. Salt Lake City Directory. Salt Lake City: Polk and Company, Publishers, B. NEWSPAPERS Deseret News. "Prominent Citizen of Salt Lake County Dead", 20 February p. 3 of 2nd section, col. 3. Salt Lake Tribune. [Obituary of Horace W. Burgon], 27 January p. 24, col. 7. Horace W. Burgon HABS No. UT-129 (page 11) C. DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS Irving, Gordon Ivor. After the Pioneers: The Experience of Young Men in Union, Utah, Master's Thesis.

Salt Lake City: Department of History, University of Utah, Polk, Michael R. A Cultural Resources Survey of a Portion of East Between and South, Sandy and Salt Lake County, Utah. Archaeological Report No. Ogden: Sagebrush Archaeological Consultants, Salt Lake County Assessor's Office. Assessment Roll of Salt Lake County [On microfilm in Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City], Book H, Salt Lake City: Salt Lake County Assessor's Office, Salt Lake County Assessor's Office. [Tax appraisal cards and associated informa- tion for Burgon residence] Salt Lake City: Salt Lake County Archives, #