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Historic place

Keith-O'Brien Building

242 S Main Street, Salt Lake City, UT

A department store building from 1902 that David Keith had built still stands on Main Street, behind a TRAX station.

📅 1902–present🏛️ StoreRepurposed
Open on the mapSlide back to 1902

The story

The Keith-O'Brien Building at 242 to 256 South Main Street was completed in 1902 at a cost of $150,000. Frederick Albert Hale designed it. It is described as a department store building, and its National Register nomination calls it an important monument to David Keith, a leading Utah developer, businessman, statesman and philanthropist.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 16, 1977. A 2019 photo shows it behind the City Center TRAX station. The page I could open gave no detail on how long the store operated or what has occupied the building since, so this entry says less than the building deserves.

What's There Now

The building still stands on Main Street; its current use was not confirmed.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

Construction cost was $150,000, about $5.6 million in 2025 dollars.
It was listed on the National Register on August 16, 1977.
The listed address spans 242 to 256 South Main Street.

Nearby history

Capitol Theatre (Orpheum)

50 W 200 South · 169 m away
Opened as the Orpheum Theatre in 1913, it became the Capitol in 1927 and now hosts Ballet West and Utah Opera.

Walker Bank Building

175 S Main Street · 170 m away
The Walker brothers' bank headquarters topped the city in 1912 and still carries a rooftop weather beacon.

Lamb's Grill

169 S Main St · 197 m away
Utah's oldest restaurant started in Logan on Washington's birthday, then spent 78 years on Main Street before closing in

Zephyr Club

301 S West Temple · 246 m away
Otto Mileti planned a dinner club, but the musicians he hired for the dinner shows drew the crowds.

Utah Theatre (Pantages)

144 S Main Street · 254 m away
A Pantages vaudeville house that became the Utah Theatre, was split in two in 1968, and was torn down in 2022 despite a

Salt Lake Tribune Building (Ezra Thompson Building)

143 S Main St · 259 m away
The Tribune bought this 1924 mining-mayor's tower in 1937 and left in 2005; now it is a university.

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Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith-O'Brien_Building