United States · Utah · Salt Lake City
South Temple Historic District, Salt Lake City — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Carriage steps and shade trees line the South Temple Historic District, the mansion street of Salt Lake City, running east from downtown to Virginia Street.
About South Temple Historic District
Where to stay in South Temple Historic District
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
South Temple Historic District holds mansions rather than lobbies, and the beds sit at its two ends. Downtown Salt Lake City starts a few blocks west of the Cathedral of the Madeleine and keeps most of the front desks. East of there, toward Virginia Street, the lots run to houses, churches and private clubs, and one of them, the Queen Anne Emanuel Kahn House, was long ago converted to lodging. Walking is the whole argument here.
It suits you if sleeping on the same street as the Kearns Mansion is worth a short walk west to find a hotel.
About South Temple Historic District
What are the main landmarks in South Temple Historic District?
The landmark run along South Temple Street is architectural, not scenic. Carl Neuhausen gave the Cathedral of the Madeleine its Neo-Romanesque front, and the Gothic Revival First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City stands on the same block in red sandstone from Red Butte Canyon. Neuhausen drew the Kearns Mansion too, raised for the mining senator Thomas Kearns and later taken over as the Utah Governor's Mansion.
Further east sit the David Keith Mansion and Carriage House, by Frederick Albert Hale, and the Enos Wall Mansion. Egyptian Revival closes the set. That is the Salt Lake Masonic Temple.
What is the history of South Temple Historic District?
South Temple Historic District grew along the avenue Brigham Young set out in 1847 as the settlement's most prominent, the road that carried traffic east to Red Butte Canyon and Fort Douglas. Mining fortunes of the late nineteenth century turned it into the address of Utah's political leaders, mine owners and immigrant merchants. Then the wrecking crews came.
Commercial pressure in the mid twentieth century cost the street a long run of its houses. Preservation was the answer, and Salt Lake City put the street on its own register in 1976, the first local historic district here; the National Register listing followed in 1982.
Where is South Temple Historic District?
South Temple Historic District follows South Temple Street east from Third East to Virginia Street, with The Avenues above it and downtown Salt Lake City behind.
Good for
More areas in Salt Lake City
Updated September 2026