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SOUTH SALT LAKE (AP) -- The Pioneer Craft House, on a site that dates back to a two-room log cabin built by Mormon pioneers in 1847, is for sale for $995,000.
A community nonprofit dedicated to the support of the Pioneer Craft House would like to buy and preserve the site, where weaving, pottery, lapidary and other traditional crafts are taught.
"The most important and pressing thing is preservation of the building and grounds," said Jim Davis, a member of the community group that is trying to save the site. "There's no way to protect it other than owning it yourself. And we want to own it."
The Granite School District says the building, which sits on two acres, is too costly to maintain. The school district has been responsible for the site since 1960. The lease expires in October 2006.
In 1947, to commemorate Utah's centennial, the Herbert Auerbach family set up in their downtown Salt Lake City department store a craft house to honor the artistic heritage of the pioneers.
After several years it was moved to Granite Park Junior High School, which is now Lincoln Elementary School, before moving to its current location across the street from Granite High School.
For decades, Pioneer Craft House thrived. The facility became a community center, drawing children and adults for a variety of classes, including stitching, leather working, calligraphy and tying flies for fishing.
The Exhibit Hall was filled with spinning wheels, looms, a 500-piece puppet collection and the wedding dress worn by one of Brigham Young's wives. The grounds were developed to include an arboretum, greenhouse and rose garden.
The maintenance work and bills were the responsibility of the Granite School District, which benefited from the classes available to its students and adults in continuing education.
But over time the Pioneer Craft House began to lose support, and the endowment and bank account balance ran out.
About a year and a half ago, a group of people in the South Salt Lake decided to try to save Pioneer Craft House. A restructured board of directors was formed. Supplies and services were donated and community interest picked up.
This fall, more than 20 classes will be offered on the site -- through the University of Utah, Salt Lake Community College and Granite Peaks Adult High School. There are new ideas and a new slogan: "Come Learn Something Old."
The Pioneer Craft House group recently received a $7,500 Zoo Arts and Parks Tax grant from Salt Lake County to help with programming.
"We thought we could go about salvaging this quietly and without a lot of fanfare," said the organization treasurer, David Kirby.
Martin Bates, the district's legal spokesman and its representative on the Pioneer Craft House board's executive committee, said that although he did not discuss the sale listing with each member, several were in on appraisal discussions and the committee has for a long time openly talked about the decades-old lease agreement.
"We've all acknowledged that the terms of the contract are not in Granite School District's favor," Bates said.
Standing empty, Pioneer Craft House costs the district $20,000 a year. With active programming, Bates estimated that figure could be as much as $80,000 a year. And the school district is not in the historic building preservation business, Bates said.
South Salt Lake's director of community and economic development, Bruce Talbot, calls Pioneer Craft House "a historic zone all by itself."
Because of its zoning status, Talbot said, without approval from the city and planning commission, a buyer would be prohibited from demolishing or changing the property.
"At the very least, it would be a long and difficult process," he said.
Davis said the Pioneer Craft House organization is working to buy the property but needs more time to get everything in place.
"We have the support to put the money together, and we have the expertise to put the money together. But it takes time," Davis said.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
