Just weeks after his inauguration, Salt Lake City's new mayor decided to resuscitate the historic Fisher Mansion on the banks of the Jordan River. He also used the restored City Hall spire on his campaign signs.

Now, Becker is going back to the future with the city logo.

With little fanfare - and even less expense - the capital mayor has opted for the traditional Deedee Corradini-era logo instead of Rocky Anderson's purple-and-white oval "cityscape."

"We just felt that it was more representative of Salt Lake City and City Hall and historic preservation," Becker explains. "It just felt more natural."

The black-and-white logo features a side view of the City-County Building framed by "Salt Lake City" block letters in a circular formation. It has remained in circulation because some city officials still have the City Hall logo on their business cards.

"It's great to go back," says City Council Chairwoman Jill Remington Love, who has the image on her cards. "Everyone knows [the building] as a landmark site in the city. The taxpayers voted to save it.

"Preservation is a value for residents in the city. It represents that as well."

The decision means the more modern skyline logo - backed by towering white mountains and book-ended by City Hall and the LDS temple - will be phased out.

Bryan Hensley, the city's chief procurement officer, says Anderson's cityscape was "inspired" by a similar design created for the 2002 National League of Cities convention in Utah's capital.

It won't disappear overnight. The city's fleet will keep the brand until individual cars are recycled. But letterhead will get the new, er, old logo, as will other city sites.

The edict came quietly - a discussion in the mayor's inner sanctum about swapping the seal slowly spread. Becker says it simply was a matter of preference and pinching pennies.

"When we came into office, someone actually came to us and said, 'What do you want your logo to be?' " he recalls. "We said, 'We don't want to pay a bunch of money for a new logo.' That's really what prompted this."

And for a heritage-type such as Becker, it didn't hurt that the City Hall symbol seems more stately, more ceremonious.

Hensley notes it actually is derived from the classic city seal, which also depicts the City-County Building. Ironically, it has become known as the "contemporary" logo.

But as progressive as he is, Becker has gone back to the days of conservative Mayor J. Bracken Lee - at least in the emblem department.

djensen@sltrib.com