Amussen Building - Salt Lake City, UT - Utah Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The historic structure, known as the Amussen Building, is the only remaining commercial building in Salt Lake City that was constructed in the pioneer period before the railroad came to the city. It is also significant in that it was designed by William H. Folsom, one of the foremost pioneer architects. Mr. Folsom also served as architect for the Salt Lake Tabernacle and the Manti Temple. The Amussen Building was the first "fire proof" building in Utah Territory, constructed of cut red sandstone with slate roof, cement basement and pane glass windows. At the time it was built, most commercial buildings along East Temple Street (Main Street) were one-story frame and adobe structures.

The pioneer store front, which is all that remains of the Amussen Building, built at 62 S. Main Street in 1869 and razed to make room for the Crossroads construction, served as the entrance to the Crossroads branch office of Commercial Security Bank. Another casualty of the new Crossroads mall was the former Richard's Street. Now that the Crossroads Mall itself has been razed, the facade has been relocated to a pedestrian version of the former Richard's Street, between South Temple Street and 100 South, incorporated into the new City Creek Center development.

Just south of the entrance to the building with the facade of the historic Amussen Building is a historical marker that reads:

AMUSSEN BUILDING

Carl Christian Amussen
1825-1902
Oval with picture of Mr. Amussen

Carl C. Amussen (christened Asmussen) was born in a wooded suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1825, the third son of the sea captain Carl Amussen and his wife Petrea. Rejecting his father's profession, Carl apprenticed himself to a noted watchmaker until the age of seventeen. During his early adult life he also mastered the profession of dentistry. As watchmaker, dentist, jeweler and even gold miner he traveled and worked in diverse parts of the world. Representative of the skill he acheived in his professions, he served at one time as the court jeweler to the czar of Russia.

While working in his jewelry store at Christ Church, New Zealand, in 1864, he found a pamphlet, "A Voice of Warning", by Parley P. Pratt lying on the sidewalk. Receiving a sure conviction by reading the tract and praying about it, he left his prosperous business and traveled to Liverpool, England, in accordance with the stamp on the pamphlet, assuming that would be the headquarters of the Church. He was baptised and then emigrated to Utah in the spring of 1865. Shortly after arriving in Salt Lake Valley, Carl met Brigham Young, and upon the advice of the latter, purchased property at this location for a new jewelry store. After first serving a mission to New Zealand, he returned to Utah in 1868 and commissioned Folsom, Romney and Co. to build his store. Slate shingles for the building, mirrors and plate glass together with a water fountain for use in the formal garden back of the store, and a full stock of jewelry, were transported to Salt Lake in three covered wagons.

Mr. Amussen married the former Anna K. Nielsen in 1869. The couple occupied the second floor of the new jewelry store as their residence. Carl later married Martha McIsaac Smith and Barbara McIsaac Smith, sisters, as his second and third wives in plural marriage. By his three wives he fathered eighteen children, the youngest of whom, Flora S. Amussen, became the wife of Ezra Taft Benson, who was ordained president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on November 10, 1985.

Retiring from the jewelry business in 1890, Mr. Amussen moved to Logan, Utah, where he died some twelve years later, October 29, 1902.

Marker Name: Amussen Building Marker Type: City County: Salt Lake City: Salt Lake City Addtional Information: Not listed Group Responsible for Placement: Not listed Date Dedicated: Not listed Marker Number: Not listed Web link(s) for additional information: Not listed

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