The new O.C. Tanner building in downtown Salt Lake City was formerly the old Hansen Planetarium. (Steve Griffin / The Salt Lake Tribune )

A beloved architectural gem in downtown Salt Lake City opens to the public at 10 a.m. today as a commercial jewelry and gift store. The O.C. Tanner building, as it is now called, was once a public library and a planetarium. The Beaux Arts building, 15 S. State St., was constructed in 1905. It lay vacant for five years until the O.C. Tanner Co. purchased and refurbished it at a cost of $24.5 million. Original stairways in the entry vestibule have been restored, as have the dark wooden casement windows and the maple tongue-and-groove ceiling.


The new O.C. Tanner building in downtown Salt Lake City was formerly the old Hansen Planetarium. (Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune)