We were delighted to start the New Year (and decade!) with one of our favorite projects, St. Joseph the Worker Church in West Jordan being named one of the Ten Best Buildings in the State of Utah by local architect and author David Ross Sheer in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Sheer writes, “Ten best” lists are great conversation (or argument) starters. If it’s a slow night in a sports bar, you can always liven things up by asking fans to list the 10 best baseball (football, soccer, badminton, bocce) players in history. Like all such lists, this one is subjective, but (I hope) not without a certain objective basis. One major difference between sports and architecture is that while, for example, batting and pitching are judged separately, good buildings have to “play both ways” and meet all of the following criteria:

an interesting (if not beautiful) external appearance;
spaces within the building that dignify the building’s functions;
a design that enhances its surroundings;
endowing its purpose with special meaning.

Also, I only included buildings open to the public so anyone can visit them.”

About St. Joseph the Worker -

“This small parish church complex in West Jordan manages to be monumental and modest at the same time. The complex includes a small chapel, offices and the sanctuary. Throughout the complex, humble materials are ennobled by superb craftsmanship, honoring the laborers who founded the parish. The exterior of the sanctuary is especially noteworthy, an exquisite piece of concrete construction that resulted from careful design by the architects and the consummate craftsmanship of the builder. The concrete was formed by wooden boards, which left an impression of every detail of the wood’s surface on the concrete. If you think concrete is an ugly material, you need to visit this church.”

You can read the entirety of the article with the other nine projects – both contemporary architecture and historic architectural gems - here.

The Utah Top 10 Buildings are:

The State Capitol (1916, Richard Kletting)

The City Library (2003, VCBO)

Abravanel Hall (1976-79, FFKR Architects)

The City and County Building (1891-94, Henry Monheim, Bird & Proudfoot)

Ogden High School (1937, Hodgson and McClenahan)

The Adobe Utah campus (2012, WRNS Studio)

The Tabernacle on Temple Square (1867, William H. Folsom and Henry Grow)

The Rio Tinto Center — Natural History Museum of Utah (2011, Ennead Architects with GSBS Architects)

Lassonde Studios (2016, Cannon Design in association with EDA Architects)