Trolley Square is a partially enclosed shopping center that serves as the home of several high-scale stores and businesses in Salt Lake City, Utah. The complex represents a transformation of what had been a historic but abandoned location into a space that could house luxury retail tenants of all types. Doing so has created opportunities for the entire community, many of which utilize the identity and uniqueness that can only be found at Trolley Square.
From Trolley Barn into Two-Story Shopping Center
In the late 1800s, Salt Lake City was one of the first cities in the United States to introduce a trolley car system. That put the Utah Light and Rail company in prime position to build a state-of-the-art trolley system that could be used as a model for the world. In 1908, a barn building to house these trolleys along with a 50,000 gallon water tower for fire protection was constructed at a 10-acre plot of land on the east side of Salt Lake City.
By the 1930s, the trolley lines were being replaced with bus routes. The streetcar system was totally dismantled by 1945, which would see the Utah Light and Rail company cease operation in the early 1950s. The trolley barns on that 10-acre plot were then turned into bus storage and eventually became unused and deteriorated for many years.
In the early 1970’s a local family purchased the property and through an extensive and historically sensitive rehabilitation process, adapted the buildings for retail use. The trolley barns were converted into a two-story shopping center as Trolley Square in 1972. Wally Wright was the architect for the project, and it was his idea to remodel and restore the trolley barns into Utah’s first festival marketplace. It became was one of the first large-scale adaptive reuse projects in the country. The collection of boutiques, pubs and entertainment centers in Trolley Square prospered throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Some of this history is only display throughout the complex, including at the water tower, which has become a beloved landmark at Trolley Square today. This connection to the past has enabled opportunities in the present, many of which are directly linked to the identity that Trolley Square has cultivated.
Trolley Studio, Trolley Wing Company and Much More
Whole Foods Market, Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn are just a few of the well-established brands to have stores in Trolley Square. Establishments that are unique to the complex and Salt Lake City region include The Spectacle, The Desert Edge Brewery and Pub as well as Cabin Fever. However, these are just a few of the stores and shops located throughout the Trolley Square District.
These stores use the identity of Trolley Square in numerous ways, cultivating interest and attention from residents and visitors. Stores like the Trolley Studio use it as part of their brand while the Trolley Wing Company operates out of an actual trolley in the courtyard. The attention they’ve received at Trolley Square has allowed them to expand to numerous other locations.
The Trolley Square water tower is covered in red and blue neon lights, helping it to become a prominent feature of the Salt Lake City skyline. Tours can be scheduled there on a regular basis. The Trolley History Museum allows visitors to step back in time to the beginnings of historical Trolley Square. The history on display there is in addition to other landmarks at the complex like a statue of Abraham Lincoln that connect viewers to another era of Salt Lake City.
The Trolley Square site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 as part of the Central City Historic District and is also listed as a Salt Lake City Cultural Register site. All of these developments showcase the cultural and economic power that a transformation of a previously empty site can represent to stakeholders and entire communities.
An Icon for Salt Lake City
The transformation of Trolley Square opened up opportunities across the entire community in the present, the success of which has cultivated new rehabilitation and new construction plans. An icon for Salt Lake City, Trolley Square has been both a cultural and retail anchor that is the result of an effort to transform a space into a landmark that would have otherwise faced certain demolition.
