A new office building constructed by the Church-owned Zion's Securities Corp. on a historic corner in the center of Salt Lake City was dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley Nov. 11.
The 19-story Gateway Tower West office building sits on the southwest corner of Main and South Temple streets, directly south of Temple Square.Present at the dedication with President Hinckley were President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, and Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini. In addition to President Hinckley, Mayor Corradini spoke to the audience assembled for the dedication, as did W. Kent Money, president of Zion's Securities, the commercial real estate arm of the Church.
"I think that the day that Brigham Young put his cane into the dusty soil just north of here and said, `Here we will build a temple to our God,' this particular piece of real estate became a very important piece of real estate in this city," President Hinckley remarked.
He said the Council House was erected on the site in 1849 and completed in 1850, only a little more than two years after the pioneers came to the Salt Lake Valley. It was used at different times to house the territorial legislature, a public library, a printing office of the Deseret News, Brigham Young's office and the University of Deseret.
After the building burned in 1883, the vacant lot was used as a display yard for tombstones, President Hinckley related. "Now, I hope all remembrances of that are behind us," he commented wryly.
The Deseret News building was constructed on the site about 1899 and later became the Union Pacific Building, President Hinckley said.
He remarked the new structure is a credit to the city, to Zions Securities, to the Church and to the tenants who will occupy space there.
In his dedicatory prayer, President Hinckley noted that the building, with its sister structure across Main Street to the east, the Gateway Tower East, serves as a gateway to the campus of Temple Square and the Church's plaza to the east and as an entrance down Main Street to the commercial area of the city to the south.
