There’s a mansion on the west side of Salt Lake City that holds a large part of Salt Lake City’s Beer History: the iconic Fisher Mansion.
You aren't mistaken if the name Fisher rings a bell, especially here in Salt Lake City. German immigrant Albert Fisher opened the Fisher Brewing Company in Salt Lake City in 1884, one of Utah’s early breweries.
“It's (the house) architecturally significant because the architect of this home was Richard Kletting, who was the Architect of the Utah State Capitol,” said Chris Wharton, chair of the Salt Lake City Council.
The mansion is located at 1206 West 200 South, has been abandoned for almost two decades, but the city, which purchased the structure in 2006, hopes to revive the building into a public community space.
“So as soon as the city acquired it, we put it on the National Register of Historic Places, and since then, the effort has been trying to raise the money to refurbish it,” Wharton added.
However, before any plans are made on the structure’s future, Wharton says the city is fixing the mansion’s foundation first.
“Right now, we're in the process of stabilizing the buildingin hopes that we can bring more people together, get more ideas from the community, and then refurbish the mansion to a usable place,” Wharton said.
Fisher constructed the mansion in 1893 on Salt Lake City’s west side, near the banks of the Jordan River. He lived here with his wife Alma and their five children.
While the outside of this Victorian Eclectic home has seen some better days, many original features inside are still intact, like the wall trimmings, light fixtures and door knobs.
“Albert Fisher wanted this house on this property because just a block away is where his brewery was,” explained Chris Jensen, an architectural historian and realtor.
According to Mapping SLC, by 1905 Fisher employed over 50 people and was brewing 75,000 barrels to distribute to the many taverns he owned in the Salt Lake Valley.
This house only seemed fitting for a big-time beer baron and his family. The mansion is two and a half stories and has 12 rooms. There’s even a separate staircase for the servants that worked in the home.
“The brewery was actually placed about a block away to the east because it was fed by a live spring,” Jensen said. “So there was a freshwater spring there, and that's what they used for the brewery to brew beer and then you have the Jordan River to the west of it. Albert, when he had this place built, wanted it to be close to his factory, but also have a pretty setting.”
So what happened to the original Fisher Brewery?
After Fisher died in 1917, his business, which was eventually run by his son Frank, had to close from 1918 to 1933 because of prohibition.
After reopening, the brewery remained a viable business until 1957, when it was sold to a competitor.
“In 1933, the state of Utah was the 36th state to ratify the 21st amendment of the constitution, which reversed prohibition, repealed it”
And in all time comebacks: In 2017, his great grandson and three other partners revived the brewery, which is not located on 320 W 800 S.
For its first 51 years, the Fisher family lived in the mansion, then the home took on a few ironic new lives. In 1945, the family leased the mansion to the Catholic Church and it became a convent. In 1970, the mansion became St. Mary’s Home for Men, an alcohol and drug abuse treatment facility and home for over 40 men.
So what's next?
The city has already renovated the carriage house in the back, which currently serves as the offices for the city’s park ranger program. Wharton says he hopes to see more progress this summer on stabilizing the home, which will allow the city to submit a request for proposal, a formal document that asks for bids from vendors to complete a project.
“We'd love to do something that connects the building to the carriage house as well, and sort of combine those values of history, education and recreation in one unique location.”
