Crandall Building in Salt Lake City stands the test of time

(Deseret News) As the heart of downtown Salt Lake City rushes to its future, David Epperson is clutching hard to its past.

Epperson isn't exactly old. He turned 60 the other day and celebrated by scuba diving in Honduras. He looks closer to 40.

But he reveres stuff that is old, and through fate, happenstance and maybe a little old-fashioned karma, he finds himself sitting, almost literally, on the dividing line between Salt Lake's old and Salt Lake's new.

Every day, he shows up for work in a building that was finished 118 years ago — only to be surrounded by buildings that haven't been finished yet.

Epperson's law office is on the fifth floor of the Crandall Building, the distinguished sandstone structure that has anchored the corner of 100 South and Main Street since it was completed in 1892.

All around, rising from the rubble that was once the rest of the block, is the framework for the massive, $3 billion City Creek Center downtown rebuilding project.

The juxtaposition couldn't be more dramatic. On the one hand, there's a seven-story sandstone building that was once hailed as the city's first skyscraper. On the other, there are steel structures arching five times its height, already obscuring it in shadow.

Original Article