Capitol Hill

The Capitol Hill District is significant as the oldest surviving residential area in Salt Lake City. Its streets and houses document over one hundred thirty years of residential construction and neighborhood development. The scale and irregularity of the streets and blocks are not typical of the rest of Salt Lake, either today or in the past. Rather they were a product of the steep hillside which made the area unattractive for redevelopment and ensured its survival. The District preserves a representative cross section of the City’s and the State’s architectural and historical resources, ranging from the high style mansions of Arsenal Hill to the tightly packed workmen’s cottages of Reed Street. The buildings and patterns of neighborhood life on the Hill are representative of other early neighborhoods of the City now broken or vanished.

Capitol Hill Historic District was later expanded to illustrate a range of architectural types and style that span over a century. These resources document the transformation of the neighborhood from pioneer farmsteads to Victorian suburb to a bustling transportation corridor. They contribute to the historic and architectural significance of the original Capitol Hill District, and help relate the district to the great Salt Lake City community.