Encircle Home receives restoration awards
The Encircle house is seen on Tuesday, July 11, 2017, in Provo. Sammy Jo Hester, Daily Herald
The Eastlake styling stairwell that was restored in the Encircle house is shown.
One of the stained glass windows is shown in the historical Alexander home now occupied by the Encircle resource center.
The front door to the Encircle house is shown. The building recently received preservation awards from the Provo Landmarks Commission and Preserve Utah organizations.
Since opening on Feb. 14 of this year, the Encircle LGBTQ Family and Youth Resource Center has received a lot of attention.
Some of that recognition was by two historical organizations for the masterful way the group has restored the William D. Alexander House at 91 W. 200 South in Provo.
Josh Yost, preservation planner in the Provo Community Development office, nominated the Encircle home to receive the Provo Landmarks Commission’s Provo Preservation Award, and the Heritage Award for Adaptive Use, given by Preservation Utah.
The Alexander house has been one of the standout historic homes in downtown Provo for many years. The house was built in 1891 and has had various owners over the years, as well as gaps of vacancy.
“It is a rare Utah example of the decorative Stick Style, and also combines Eastlake porches, and Queen Anne shingling,” wrote Yost in his description of the home in the nomination application.
“The house is distinguished by this eclectic style, its unusual wall dormers with rounded bottoms, and its unusual orientation with three corner porches.”
The Eastlake styling is the same architectural design used in the Provo Tabernacle and, most recently, the restoration of the Tabernacle into the Provo City Center Temple.
Yost added the building was in good original condition, the house is basically unaltered.
“The Stick Style was one of the two most purely American styles of the nineteenth century,” Yost stated. “The geometric pattern of crossing horizontal and vertical sticks on this house is reminiscent of Japanese framing as seen in the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia which influenced the Stick and later Prairie styles, and may have been an influence in this house.”
Architectural designer Jared Connors said this was the most restoration he has ever done on a project.
“It was beat up,” Connors said. “Obviously we wanted to keep it the way it was, just clean it. We celebrate its history.”
Connors said the same ideas were a metaphor that applied to those who would find peace in this house. It would be a place to discover who you are under all the waxed and worn surfaces.
According to Yost, several steps were needed to get the building up to restoration standards including cleaning and repairing parts of the house, and removing non-historic elements, such as wall and floor coverings, a jetted tub, exposed ducting and trim. There were also upgrades to electrical and mechanical systems and reconfiguring the main floor service area to accommodate an ADA-accessible restroom.
“By following their desire to ‘leave it alone’ Encircle completed the interior rehabilitation while making only limited changes and maintaining a patina of age and use that enhances the sense of historic authenticity experienced in the house,” Yost wrote in his nominations.
Yost continued, “Encircle’s work and long-term commitment to the property has already created a sense of stable investment in the surrounding area and will ensure the continued use and preservation of this unique house long into the future.”
Companies and individuals that helped in the restoration of the Alexander House include Dean Peterson of Demar Construction, Jared Connors of Connors Design, Mountain Land Design, Arizona Tile, Juilliard Rivas, Holly Alden and the John Williams Memorial Foundation.
To get the Encircle home up to restoration standards, according to Josh Yost, Encircle’s scope of work included:
- Complete interior painting.
- Removal of non-historic wall coverings and trim in entry installed by previous tenants.
- Trim and millwork cleaning and repair including fabrication of missing elements of elaborate Eastlake-style staircase, existing finish maintained to preserve character and patina.
- Reconfiguration of the main floor service area, including the kitchen and restroom, to accommodate an ADA accessible restroom.
- Removal of first floor portion of southwest chimney to accommodate ADA restroom with the upper portion of the chimney maintained and supported by new concealed steel framing.
- Removal of non-historic floor coverings.
- Cleaning and repair of original wood floors, existing finish maintained to preserve character and patina.
- Updates to mechanical systems to remove non-historic exposed ducting and other intrusions.
- Updates to electrical system and fixtures to accommodate office use.
- Renovation of second-floor restroom including removal of non-historic jetted tub and installation of new bathing facilities.
- Cleaning and repair of historic windows.
- Repair and in-kind replacement of deteriorated exterior woodwork.
- Complete exterior painting.
