Park City's historic home tour set for Saturday

Whether you're a history buff or just interested in what's up in Utah's back yard, you can peek into the wild past of Park City through the resort town's 13th annual Historic Home Tour.

This year, 19 structures will be featured during the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 27 tour. Docents will tell stories about the people who built the houses and lived in Park City when it was emerging as a town in the 1870s, up through the turn of the century and into the Great Depression.

A post-tour reception will be held at Zoom restaurant, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Preservation awards will be presented honoring excellence in preservation and stewardship of five historic buildings.

Included in the tour is the house Lawrence Thompson built in 1904 at 1162 Woodside Ave. Typical of post-1900 construction in Park City, the house is in the pyramid form with rectangular floor plan and pyramid-style roof. Respectful restoration efforts earned the house a Park City Historical Preservation award in 2005.

Also featured is the Kidder Cash Grocery Store, which now operates as RSB Designs at 1101 Park Ave. The modest frame building with false front was built in 1929 by Fraser Buck and functioned as a neighborhood grocery. (Buck is the coauthor of Treasure Mountain Home .)

Visitors also can see the T-cottage at 1010 Woodside Ave. that was built in 1889 during the mining boom. Wilson I. Snyder, a prominent attorney, purchased the house from David McLaughlin in 1901.

The Historic Home Tour is a fundraiser for the Park City Historical Society, which is completing expansion and remodel of its Main Street Museum, scheduled to open in late August.

- Christopher Smart