Capitol Hill

The Capitol Hill Historic District was established as a National Register District in 1982 and was designated as a Local Historic District in 1984. The boundaries of the local district were about 25% larger than the boundaries of the National Register District listed in 1982, which was expanded in 2002.

The Capitol Hill District is significant as the oldest surviving residential area in Salt Lake City. Its streets and houses document over 130 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.

The resources within the boundary increase 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.