You are not expected to read the following, and there won't be a test - but the following is included here for your perusal if you are interested.
In summary, MeetingsAmerica feels a strong connection to the present, the past, and the future of the city in which we are headquartered. It is important that your DMC be part of the culture, history, and atmosphere that make this city the unique place that it is.
MeetingsAmerica has a strong link to the history of the state of Utah. Our office building demonstrates our connection with the city and the state that we represent. Built at the turn of the 20th century, the old Oquirrh School is now a bustling office for attorneys, architects, engineers, computer programmers, CPAs, a PR agency and your MeetingsAmerica staff.
The building was designed by Richard K.A. Kletting, dubbed the "Dean of Utah Architects". Born in Germany, Kletting's ambition to become an architect began at fifteen, when he worked cutting stones in a quarry. At sixteen, he became a junior draftsman in government engineering offices. Kletting later traveled to Paris, where he became well-schooled in modern architecture.
In 1883, Kletting left for America, and traveled west until he arrived in Salt Lake City. On the day following his arrival, he was hired as an architect, and began work on the first of a large number of Salt Lake City buildings. Through his work on both residential and commercial projects, Kletting became the most noted architect in Salt Lake.
In 1892, at the age of thirty-four, he began work on what was to become one of his largest and most distinctive works - the original Saltair resort on the south shore of the Great Salt Lake. Completed in 1893, the resort was unlike any other building in Utah, with its intricate woodwork and Moorish appearance. It was built on 2,500 piles driven into the lake bed, about three quarters of a mile from shore. Access to it was by means of a railroad, also constructed on piles. The most prominent feature was the resort's vast dance floor, which at the time was proclaimed to be the largest in the world. Saltair became one of the Intermountain West's most popular resort attractions - the "Coney Island" of the west. The original building burned to the ground in 1925, and today a third building with the same name now stands in its place, but mostly because of "the times" it has lost the allure, mystique and grandeur of the original building.
More striking than Saltair, was Kletting's last and most famous work - the Utah State Capitol building, completed in 1916. Kletting was chosen on March 13, 1912 over forty other architects in a competition to choose the building's designer. The State Capitol building is a massive and proud structure, with classic Greek and renaissance characteristics, including a well-proportioned dome and colonnade of twenty-four columns. It's rotunda is one of the stops on our "Historic City Tour".
Other noteworthy Kletting buildings include many schools, including our "Oquirrh School". There are many other Kletting buildings still in use in Salt Lake City - with several residential mansions on our "Historic City Tour" route. Other commercial buildings in town include the old "New York Hotel", housing the New Yorker and Market Street Grill restaurants.
Back in 1899, people were flocking to get as close as they could to the dedication of the Richard Kletting-designed building located at 9th South between State and Main. It was the original Salt Palace and according to the Deseret News of August 22, 1899, the Salt Palace opened with a ceremony overseen by Governor Heber Wells who praised it as "magnificent beyond the Ice Palaces and Corn Palaces found elsewhere".
The Palace was built of wood that they had sprayed and encrusted with powdered salt, along with slabs of rock salt from the Salina area plus incrustations from the shores of the Great Salt Lake compressed into blocks. This snow-white building, lighted on the exterior by over nine hundred incandescent lights must have truly been a sight to behold. Praise was even more extensive for the interior and the blended colors in the dome. News articles said the exquisite relief work "fairly scintillated under the many brilliant lights." It burnt down in 1910, but the name lived on and now is used for the city's huge Convention Center.
So, the building that houses our "World Headquarters" keeps good company with other landmarks around the city. We invite you to include our office during your site visit. In our lobby, you will see a number of pictures of vintage Salt Lake. We are connected to our past, and committed to representing the historic cultural side of the city during your group's visit to the city that the natives call "Salt Lake". MeetingsAmerica has been serving associations, corporate clients and private groups since 1984. We know our city, we know Utah, we know the Intermountain West, and we're delighted to share it with you!
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