The uniqueness of Salt Lake's grid system

[Comrade]

Since Salt Lake City has larger blocks than most American cities, the older blocks are often split up, creating far more narrower streets than what you would generally get in a western city. This creation has created a far more unique look to Salt Lake as opposed to other western cities (specifically those located in the Mountain West region). So while there are many wide streets -- a staple in Salt Lake's character -- there are also many, many narrow streets that you generally don't get in the western US. I think this actually is pretty cool, because these streets are often tucked away from major roads and are filled with some cool housing. But since they are so small, many streets often feel like they were built in the forest because of all the massive trees that have grown over the years.

Thanks to Google Maps now providing street photos of nearly every street in the Salt Lake Valley, I can now post some of these narrow streets for other non-Salt Lake forumers to see. And hell, I'm sure many Salt Lake forumers do not venture down these roads, so it may all be foreign to them, as well.

Here's Stanton Avenue, which is about a mile from the downtown core. What's interesting is that at the end of the street there are two new residential buildings -- so even today, construction is still taking place on these streets.



Here's Sego Avenue. Notice the shotgun style housing, which dominates many of the inner-city neighborhoods of Salt Lake.



Here's Gallagher Place, another narrow street. Again you can see the shotgun style housing, along with a mix of brick duplexes.





Park Street is pretty neat, because nearly every house on it is a bungalow. These types of bungalows aren't really seen in the western United States, yet they make up a big part of Salt Lake's housing stock.



For the Denver forumers, Denver Street. This is in an area mostly filled with 3-4 story apartment buildings.



Menlo Avenue, varying housing styles and a lot of trees.



Here's Norris Pl.



Penn Pl is an interesting street, since trees overwhelm the area.



Iowa Street reminds me of a street you'd see back east. If the road were dirt, the street would look like it came right of the late 1800s, early 1900s.



Elizabeth Street is pretty much a street filled with these red brick apartments.



Here's where Park and Lowell Streets intersect.



Gudgell, which looks pretty desolate and ugly.



Hawthorne, again filled with many bungalows.



These areas are pretty cool, but I don't think I'd want to live on one of these streets.

What do you think?

[PHX31]

Those are really narrow.. They look (and look like they function) more like alleys, except the homes face them. What is in the back of the homes? More narrow roads like this, actual alleys, or just the neighbor's back yard?

[delts145]

I am a big fan of these streets. Count me as one of those who likes the grid and the big streets downtown, because it gives so much opportunity to do some pretty cool tinkering. I like that there is a choice of both large and many small streets througout the Central City.

Thanks for this post Comrade. These small streets are one of my favorite points about Salt Lake City.

[RC14]

You're right I'm from Salt Lake and I didn't know that these streets even existed.
They look realy cool, but I don't think they are best suted for singal family housing, I think it would be nicer to have more of these streets down town.

[ski_steve]

Where did you find this? I want to go check it out

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by PHX31

Those are really narrow.. They look (and look like they function) more like alleys, except the homes face them. What is in the back of the homes? More narrow roads like this, actual alleys, or just the neighbor's back yard?

It depends. Sometimes there is an alley next to it where the garages are, other times it's just the backyard of another house.

There are tons more that I can't post because they never took any pictures down those other streets, but I think this gives you an idea.

[HX_Guy]

Interesting but I have to say some, or about half, look pretty run down and blighted. Not that there aren't many in the Phoenix area as well, but just an observation.

This one stood out in particular as looking really beat, it reminds me of St. Louis for some reason, even though I've never been there.

[Future Mayor]

I have to agree many of the houses on these streets look rundown and really are run down. I do love these streets, they have a very intimate feel. I dated a girl for a while that rented a house on Dooley Ct. and a large percentage of the neighbors all new each other, and watched out for each other. Simply sitting on the front porch you couldn't help but get to know the neighbors. It was pretty cool.

I'm guessing the reason they are run down in a lot of cases is that people honestly don't know these streets exist and you don't have a lot of people wanting to invest in the street because of that. Thus they don't improve as rapidly as other neighborhoods.

Thanks for the pics Comrade!

[WASDEN]

Thanks for the post Comrade.

I do like narrow streets but I'm going to have to side with Px31- the majority of these midblock developments do look and function more like alleyways as opposed to real streets. Most are VERY run down (but at least they make it possible for me to one day own a home in the city There are some isolated gems though- like Iowa street and others.

The 10 acre block street grid was better suited for the original plan for Salt Lake City- being primarily an agricultural establishment rather than urbania. Although I like the unique aspects of our city, the ginormous blocks are what make tragedies like the now defunct Crossroads mall possible. Instead of an organic/human scale approach to development a 10-20 acre disruption can touch down in the heart of town- a reason why I think the much smaller grid system of The Avenues has produced a more timeless/charming neighborhood. 10 acre blocks, or 20-30 if you think of the Salt Palace, skew the city to an automotive scale out of necessity! The new focus on pedestrians is why city planners are pushing for the return of mid block streets (Richards and Regents streets).

[Sekkle]

Very nice. The width of those streets looks like some in Boston or Philadelphia (much different housing, though). Does anyone have any actual photos that they've taken in this area? I mean, non-google ones?

[big T]

Fascinating. I've been to SLC a while ago, but this aspect was completely lost on me. Thanks for that!

[Comrade]

Yeah the streets look a bit rundown, but that's normal for many inner-city neighborhoods throughout the nation.

I thought I would add even more streets.

Here's Alida Pl, which looks like it's located in the middle of the jungle. This neighborhood is actually on the city's westside, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood (west of the capitol building).



Almond Street is located on Marmalade Hill, which again is on the city's westside.



Again, located on the city's westside, this is Ardmore.



Back into Central City, here's Windsor Street.



More Windsor. Dooley (below) is just to the right of this street.



Dooley Court, which runs along side Winsdor Street.



Markea Avenue, with those common bungalows.



Linden Avenue, looking a bit rundown.



Linden from another area. Kinda trashy.



University Street is located on the eastside of Salt Lake, right next to Rice-Eccles Stadium and of course a block west of the University of Utah.



Laker Court. Left of the brightly colored duplex is a road that takes you to a cluster of homes behind the actual road. Again, this is very common in Salt Lake, where homes are behind other homes. This has to do, again, with the big blocks. Often times they're never even noticed because they could be located behind a home on the main road. This picture reminds me of a poor area you'd see in Mexico or another Latin American country.



Hoover, heh, the name makes me laugh. Obviously named after Pres. Hoover, the area actually resembles what Hoovervilles looked like during the Great Depression. Or at least, kinda does.



Like I said in another post, many of these streets lack photos on the Google map, Van Ness is one of those streets. So instead of showing you a photo of that street, here's the entrance of it, to give you an idea of what they look like when incorporated into the block. This is located off of 400 S.



I listed Gudgell in the original post, but here's another section of the street.

[ski82]

Thanks for the putting these photos together. These streets are easy to miss. Driving down the typically wide SLC streets, these resemble an alley more than anything. I had spent a good amount of time in SLC before, but it wasn't until one night I was stumbling around drunk near the U that I noticed some of them. I was confused and had to stop and think about where I was for a minute. Good times, those college days.

[kpexpress]

I hate the large blocks (for the downtown area). Here in San Diego, the blocks are tiny, therefore very walkable. I like that.

[delts145]

Personally, I would much rather have diverse choices like Salt Lake. In Downtown Salt Lake, intimate inner streets are now being brought back, recreated, or restored such as Regent,Richards,Social Hall,Pierpont,etc.,etc. If wide sidewalks, or streets are needed for median flexibility, lavish landscaping, commuter rail, sidewalk dining, then they can and are being created now all over downtown. If a grand square with an accompanying monumental building is desired, it can be created. Look at Temple Square, Washington Square, The Conference Center, Main Street Plaza and accompanying campus, Library Square,etc., and of course City Creek, which quite frankly will blow the doors off of Horton Plaza. Downtown Salt Lake City is a canvas with a huge array of options

I like San Diego over most cities for many reasons, and am there often. As far as creative development options at the core, I would choose Salt Lake City hands down.