In the ongoing campaign to save Utah buildings of historical interest, recent years have brought major successes and a few key losses.

Preservation Utah’s 2026 list of the state’s most endangered places features 35 historic sites in 14 counties, ranging from those it now considers saved to those facing threat of demolition, alteration or loss without swift intervention.

The nonprofit says its annual list “identifies what [buildings are] at risk, tracks their fate, and brings together people and resources to help save them.”

For an interactive listing of all 35 places, visit preservationutah.org/mostendangered.

This year’s update adds seven places, including portions of Utah’s oldest school, Rowland Hall St. Mark’s School in Salt Lake City, after the property on that campus also known as Roosevelt Junior High went up for sale in fall 2025.

Three properties elsewhere in the state have been added to Preservation Utah’s at-risk watch list this year for being under imminent danger, the group’s highest alert level.

Those are Dixon Middle School in Provo, a 1931 structure in Utah County; Silver King Mill, a 104-year-old industrial building in Summit County; and the Green River Bank Building in Green River, built circa 1904 and one of the region’s oldest surviving commercial sites.

Along with Rowland Hall, others added at lesser threat levels are the Cisco Utah townsite in Grand County; Kaysville’s old City Hall and library in Davis County; and the Wellsville Tabernacle in Cache County.

Impacts of SLC’s upcoming cultural and convention district

Another school in Utah’s capital has been previously listed as being in imminent danger: part of historic West High School, where a generational remodel of the school started in March. Plans call for demolishing the existing main building, constructed in 1922.

Officials say that while losing that primary structure is now a foregone move, hope remains for salvaging distinct terracotta ornamentation, woodwork, ironwork, tile and the school clock. Preservation Utah says the old main entrance facade also needs to be kept as part of the new campus.

Several other Salt Lake City places are also threatened, according to the group, as a result of the new cultural and convention center district rapidly unfolding downtown around the Delta Center.

In potential jeopardy from that billion-dollar publicly backed development are the Hogar Hotel at 126 S. 200 West. Preservation Utah says the developer continues to struggle in finding a place to move that 1877 structure, originally referred to as the Lewis S. Hills House.

There is also ongoing concern for the remnants of Japantown a few blocks away along 100 South between 200 West and 300 West.

Although developer The Ritchie Group has vowed to invest in public improvements to the former enclave of Asian immigrants that was razed in the 1960s, Japantown’s two main remaining sites — Japanese Church of Christ and the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple — do not enjoy historical protections.

“The main worry for the community,” Preservation Utah says, “is whether construction will block access to the churches or disrupt their activities, and whether the area’s cultural identity will be truly respected as the neighborhood changes.”

Another revered cultural site in that same mix, though, is now being counted as saved.

That’s Maurice Abravanel Hall, aka Symphony Hall, which instead of facing the wrecking ball will now see a significant renovation and modernizing as a kind of centerpiece for the emerging sports, entertainment, culture and convention district.

Other places in danger, lost and saved

Other sites in the city that remain on the endangered list: Chateau Normandie Apartments at 63-73 S. 400 East; and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, just south of Judge Memorial High School.

As it has in past years, the list mentions historic neighborhoods on Salt Lake City’s west side, with some 742 historic single-family homes spread across neighborhoods such as Fairpark, Rose Park, Glendale, Poplar Grove, Westpointe and Jordan Meadows.

Amid a trend of ongoing development in portions of the city, none of those areas enjoys designations as local historic districts, the group notes, “so there are no demolition protections.”

The roster also gives similar attention to east-side Salt Lake City neighborhoods that are designated as historic districts, among them: the Avenues, South Temple, Capitol Hill and Central City. These, too, are nonetheless “still endangered.”

In the “lost” column, Preservation Utah is counting Phillips Congregation Church at 479 S. 700 East, kitty-corner from Trolley Square. That ivy-covered building from 1907 was torn down in 2025. The lot remains vacant.

Also listed as lost: the Salina Municipal Building and Library, formerly on Main Street in Salina. That 1936-era structure was demolished in November 2025 to be replaced by a parking lot.