Knutsford Hotel

{{Short description|Former upscale hotel in Salt Lake City}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox hotel

| hotel_name =Knutsford Hotel

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| image ="Seeing Salt Lake City" being an illustrated description of a tour through Salt Lake City on the observation cars of the American Sight-Seeing Car and Coach Company (1905) (14779476411).jpg

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| caption =The Knutsford Hotel in 1905

| location = Salt Lake City, Utah

| pushpin_map = USA Utah

| opening_date = 1891

| demolition_date = 1935

| developer =

| architect =Mendelssohn, Fisher and Lawrie

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| floors = 6

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The Knutsford Hotel was an upscale hotel on the northeast corner of State Street and Third South (Broadway) in Salt Lake City, Utah. Historically, the site had been the location of the camp where the Mormons had planted their first crops.{{cite book|title=Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly, Volume 11|year=1978|publisher=Southern California Jewish Historical Society|page=235}}{{cite book|last=Van Loan|first=Ida A.|title=A tour through the West with the Jersey City Elks, Issue 211|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IU5OAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22knutsford+hotel%22&pg=PA120|publisher=Isaac H. Blanchard Co., printers|accessdate=6 March 2014|pages=120–121|year=1910}}{{cite book|title=The Latter-Day Saints' Millennial Star, Volume 56|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dgRAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22knutsford+hotel%22&pg=PA134|publisher=P.P. Pratt|accessdate=6 March 2014|page=134|year=1894}}

The Knutsford Hotel was built in downtown Salt Lake City in 1891. The architects were the Omaha-based firm of Mendelssohn, Fisher and Lawrie. The general contractors, also from Omaha, were Rocheford & Gould. The hotel was a 132-foot-by-132-foot Victorian-influenced structure built primarily of granite at a cost of $750,000.{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Allen Dale|title=Salt Lake City's Historic Architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZwUtWVZlkuUC&dq=%22knutsford+hotel%22&pg=PA45|publisher=Arcadia Publishing, USA|accessdate=27 February 2014|page=45|year=2012|isbn=9780738595160}} The hotel had 250 rooms and was advertised as being completely fireproof.{{cite book|title=Out West Magazine, Volume 20|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_em0LAQAAIAAJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_em0LAQAAIAAJ/page/n417 302]|quote=knutsford hotel.|publisher=Pacific States|accessdate=6 March 2014|year=1904}} The hotel's unique name was in honor of the owner's birthplace in Knutsford, Cheshire, England.{{cite book|title=The Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society, Volume 18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JrkKAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22knutsford+hotel%22&pg=PA34|publisher=The Manchester Geographical Society, Manchester, England|accessdate=6 March 2014|page=34|year=1902}}

Gustavus S. Holmes was a one-time owner and operator of The Knutsford.{{cite book|last=Harper|first=Franklin|title=Who's who on the Pacific Coast|publisher=Harper Publishing Company|page=278|year=1913|quote=Holmes, Gustavus S.}} Holmes also owned The Angelus in Los Angeles, California and would often advertise the hotels together.

In 1912, The Knutsford was remodeled and converted into The Auerbach department store.{{cite book|title=Salt Lake City, 1890-1930|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EM-KrVqv9joC&dq=auerbach+salt+lake+city&pg=PA54|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|accessdate=6 March 2014|author=Gary Topping, Melissa Coy Ferguson|year=2009|isbn = 9780738570747}} The building housed the Sears Roebuck company's department store from 1928 to 1933.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/598735350/|title=Historic Knutsford Hotel building to be Torn Down at Once|publisher=The Salt Lake Tribune|date=February 8, 1935|page=1}}

The building was demolished in 1935 and replaced by new commercial buildings and a theatre.{{cite web|title=Ten Utah Buildings We Miss - Kuntsford Hotel|website=Deseret News|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/top/75/8/Knutsford-Hotel-10-Utah-buildings-we-miss.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819174501/http://www.deseretnews.com/top/75/8/Knutsford-Hotel-10-Utah-buildings-we-miss.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 19, 2013|accessdate=27 February 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/598490633/|date=November 17, 1936|title=Ultra-Modern Store Buildings and Theater Scheduled for Construction at Broadway and State Street Site|publisher=The Salt Lake Tribune|page=1}}