SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The Historic Hancock mansion has stood at 700 E. since 1890. It’s now surrounded by bulldozers, jackhammers and cranes as developers plan to build apartment complexes.
But inside the mansion, its owners have done their best to preserve the 136 years of history it contains.
"It has its original wallpaper in there," said Danell Murdock, one of the owners of the Hancock Mansion. "All the doors are originals and they're transoms.”
It wouldn't be a reach to say the Hancocks would recognize this home today. But one look out a window might lead to a different conclusion.
"Pretty soon [there] will be just a large 70-foot wall, with no windows that we look out to," said Murdock.
Murdock bought the house with her husband in 2013 to be the new home of their graphic design company, Design of Today. Back then, they were surrounded by other historic buildings.
"There was Big Daddy's Pizza, which was a one-level building," Murdock said.
But over the past four years, Murdock said construction began on apartment complexes that will stand eight levels high. The mansion is now shrouded in shade, not just on one side, but on the back, right and left.
"We're just going to be in shade for 11 out of 12 months of the year,” said Murdock. “Which is too bad because we're all artists and we depend on light to look at our color and what we're building for our clients.”
The construction’s brought additional challenges too, like noise and dust.
"It's a struggle to keep my car clean. It's a struggle to keep my place clean. A lot of dust and movement," Murdock said.
Despite the disruption that could very well continue for years, Murdock and her husband said they decided to stay rather than sell.
"Who are we to make that decision? Why wouldn't we want to show the people who intentionally made something so beautiful the respect of keeping it? Why wouldn't we want to show that?" said Murdock.
Murdock said she plans to keep both the house and their business inside it, so that once the apartments are finished, the mansion's beauty can still be appreciated.
"When you walk past this place and it's surrounded by big buildings, those who have respect for the past will see it, or curiosity about the past will see it," said Murdock.