The Old Red House on Redwood Road
May. 8th, 2007 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinOnce again, I call upon the Powers of LiveJournal! Rise to me, O LJ Minions!
Once upon a time I was fascinated with an old Victorian mansion/farmhouse sort of close to where we lived in Utah. I've tried finding pictures or even information about it online but it might as well not exist. Will anyone else have more luck than me?
Here is what I know, should it be of any use whatsoever:
- It was on Redwood Road, somewhere near the I-215 onramp (so ... 45th-62nd South or thereabouts? This might run into the Taylorsville/Bennion Zone of Ambiguity.)
- It looked (to my miniscule knowledge of architecture) late Victorian
- Made of brick, with two bay windows and a turret, door centre front
- Hosted the 'Alien Encounters' haunted house for a few years
- An acquaintance of mine once said it was called the 'Diamond house' (wisdom of teenagers to be taken with a grain of salt)
- Was demolished in 1997 (I believe) to make way for the ironically named 'Heritage Estates' office park
Well, I can't offer any concrete prize to whoever may find it but I might work on something...
Once upon a time I was fascinated with an old Victorian mansion/farmhouse sort of close to where we lived in Utah. I've tried finding pictures or even information about it online but it might as well not exist. Will anyone else have more luck than me?
Here is what I know, should it be of any use whatsoever:
- It was on Redwood Road, somewhere near the I-215 onramp (so ... 45th-62nd South or thereabouts? This might run into the Taylorsville/Bennion Zone of Ambiguity.)
- It looked (to my miniscule knowledge of architecture) late Victorian
- Made of brick, with two bay windows and a turret, door centre front
- Hosted the 'Alien Encounters' haunted house for a few years
- An acquaintance of mine once said it was called the 'Diamond house' (wisdom of teenagers to be taken with a grain of salt)
- Was demolished in 1997 (I believe) to make way for the ironically named 'Heritage Estates' office park
Well, I can't offer any concrete prize to whoever may find it but I might work on something...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Utah
Date: 2007-05-09 02:37 pm (UTC)I wish I could help, but I have not been in that neck of the woods for a long time. All I could think to do is get in touch with a local historical society in that area. Old tract maps might help, too, with pinpointing the location and name.
Good luck with your search!
no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 09:51 pm (UTC)Red House on 5959 South Redwood Road, Utah
Date: 2013-09-22 03:22 am (UTC)Re: Red House on 5959 South Redwood Road, Utah
Date: 2013-09-22 11:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-09 10:21 pm (UTC)alien encounters
Date: 2013-03-12 01:20 pm (UTC)Re: alien encounters
Date: 2013-03-12 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-12 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-12 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-12 10:22 pm (UTC)Hi!
Date: 2014-08-13 05:55 am (UTC)Are you still curious about the house??
Re: Hi!
Date: 2014-08-13 06:52 am (UTC)Re: Hi!
Date: 2014-08-13 07:22 pm (UTC)The house was built in 1898 by a guy with the last name Dimond. He was a British guy and his family still has some construction business in SLC. When he passed awawy his family sold it to a guy named Dr. Wirthlin. That was sometime in the late 50's.
My Dad, who's family helped settle the Bennion (now Taylorsville area) earned money as a teen by sweeping out the guy's chicken coop. He told me all about that when I later helped start a Hauned House in the early 90's called "Alien Encounters". Dr. Wirthlin was part of a group that opposed the contruction of I-215 due to the proposed site being so close to his property. He was successful in the fact that the freeway stayed off his land entirely, and was not built until he passed away in the late 70's.
With Wirthlin passing, and the Freeway going up, the family moved out of that then 100 year old mansion, leaving it boarded up and fenced off. Growing up in the 80's we of course had the local myths about what happened there. Family murder and atanic rituals (The house was RED DUDE, SATAN!) Were the most popular. For some reason we always called it the "Calvin Smith House" though Smith had nothing to do with the property. Not sure where that started.
In 1992 I was able to help start a haunt called Alien Encounters. Which during the construction months (May-Oct) we would snoop through both the house, and the white Doctors office which was also on the property. Lots of drug paraphernalia and homless camps, but they would always split before we got there. There was LOTS of graffiti and vandalism from people breaking in through the 80's.
The haunt was split into sections, Red, White, Green and Blue. Blue handled the line and entrance, Green handled the outside areas like the barn and maze. White had the doctors office was CREEEEEPY. and Red had the house. Lucky for me, I was in Red, and was able to spent a considerable amount of time in there.
The Basement still had old furniture, and mason jars. Bags of cememnt mix, and for some reason car batteries. The upstairs was for the most part off limits because of the age of the house. But we would take our breaks up there. It was cool.
We tried to buy the property when it went up for sale in 1997, and even though we offered a MILLION dollars for it, we were unable to make a deal. We found out later that even though we had made a deal with the property management, the family was never on board with our use of the land. A few months later, the house was razed and the land completely leveled out.
Here's something most people DO NOT know. The foundation, and basement of both the house, and doctors office were not removed and are still there today. In fact, a portion of the haunt was still in the white basement when it was filled in. So, somebody at some point in the far away future will be freaked right the hell out when they dig up a scary maze, and mad scientist lab :)
no subject
Date: 2014-08-13 08:05 pm (UTC)5959 Redwood Road Home - My grandparent's home.
Date: 2014-09-28 04:12 am (UTC)It's unreal to me to see the conspiracies that apparently surrounded the home of my grandparents Dr. LeRoy Wirthlin and Emilie Stiefel. I am one of many granddaughters of this branch of the Wirthlin family, and our family actually lived in this home for many years and used to help my grandmother on the farm when my grandfather had passed away. We spent every weekend with my grandmother taking care of her and the farm until we moved from Utah in 1984 - two years after her passing.
I would love to clarify a few things for you: No one was murdered, there were not satanic rituals nor alien abductions. The family, along with my grandmother, stayed put even when the highway was built - I remember there was some insistence on fencing being put into place. No one up and left at all. We eventually moved out of my grandmother's home, but we were there every weekend and sometimes during the week to see her. So why the red house? Sorry to burst your bubble - no Satantic anything here. My grandmother and grandfather were from Switzerland and my grandmother wanted the home to be painted in the colors of the Swiss flag as she was extremely proud of her heritage. The original house I believe was either white or a very soft yellow. She had beautiful roses that grew all around the side of the house - it was my job to care for these roses.
We all loved the home. It was beautiful inside with the antique parlor and marble fireplaces, the sitting room and the butler's pantry and the huge archways with the doors that would slide shut. Our family tried to take care of the land as best as we could with the fruit orchards and vegetable gardens, but it was hard to keep up with the constant vandalism that occurred between the medical office that my grandfather once had (to help those that were sick) being broken into all the time, and frightening my grandmother. Vandals burned down the chicken coops that once housed the chickens that my sisters and I would go and collect the eggs from and kids where always trying to break into the house itself. My older siblings would take turns spending nights with her so she wasn't so frightened - but she would not move from the house. She loved it there - it was her home.
As far as the sale of the property - that was between my father and his siblings and I have no knowledge as to what transpired - but that did not occur until I believe around 2000 or maybe later (don't quote me on that). I do know that through the years while my grandmother was alive, she was constantly harassed by commercial builders for her to sell her land to them so they could build either strip malls, or condo's or business parks. I guess they eventually won in the end.
I hope I didn't burst your bubble with the truth of this property. I did go back to Utah (I live in Vermont) in 1997 just before it was demolished and the foreman allowed me to walk through just the bottom floor one last time when I explained who I was. It broke my heart to see what had been done to the the home. All of the antique trim and moldings had been torn out, everything was completely ripped out, torn apart - everything I had known was suddenly gone. I'm glad I have my memories and some of the photos that survived the fire that the vandals set.
It's a shame - it was a beautiful piece of property and a beautiful house that I would have loved to have had my children see and experience. It's true when they say you don't know what you have until it's gone. I would have loved to have shared this house with everyone.
Re: 5959 Redwood Road Home - My grandparent's home.
Date: 2015-04-29 07:20 pm (UTC)Re: 5959 Redwood Road Home - My grandparent's home.
Date: 2020-04-20 04:06 pm (UTC)Re: 5959 Redwood Road Home - My grandparent's home.
Date: 2020-04-20 01:35 am (UTC)https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/90925928?p=20861933&returnLabel=Thomas%20Walter%20Dimond%20(KWCP-X56)&returnUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.familysearch.org%2Ftree%2Fperson%2Fmemories%2FKWCP-X56
Re: 5959 Redwood Road Home - My grandparent's home.
Date: 2020-04-20 04:04 pm (UTC)