The Gardo House was the official residence of the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the tenures of John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...

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Construction

The structure was originally intended for one of Brigham Young's wives, Amelia Folsom, and was eponymously called "Amelia's Palace". It was built opposite (to the south of) Brigham Young

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

's residence, Beehive House

Beehive House

The Beehive House is one of the two official residences of Brigham Young, an early leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . The Beehive House gets its name from the Beehive sculpture atop the house. It was designed by Young's brother-in-law and architect of the Salt Lake...

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Construction began in 1873 and the co-designers on the mansion were Joseph Ridges and William H. Folsom

William Harrison Folsom

William Harrison Folsom was an architect and contractor. He constructed many of the historic buildings in Utah, particularly in Salt Lake City. Folsom is probably best known as a Latter-day Saint architect. Many of his most prominent works were commissioned by The Church of Jesus Christ of...

, Amelia's father. The structure, located at 70 E. South Temple, was built directly east of the LDS Church's historian's office (constructed in 1855), first occupied by George A. Smith

George A. Smith

George Albert Smith was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as a member of the church's First Presidency.-Childhood:Smith was born in Potsdam, St...

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The mansion was dedicated on February 22, 1883.

History

By the time John Taylor became church president, the Edmunds-Tucker Act

Edmunds-Tucker Act

The Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 was passed in response to the dispute between the United States Congress and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding polygamy. The act is found in US Code Title 48 & 1461, full text as 24 Stat. 635, with this annotation to be interpreted as Volume...

 was putting intense pressure on him to observe this anti-bigamy law. He sought to comply with the law by moving into the Gardo House with his sister, Agnes Taylor

Agnes Taylor

Agnes Taylor Rich Hoagland Schwartz was a Mormon pioneer who played a key role in helping her brother, LDS Church president John Taylor, evade authorities during the federal crackdown on polygamy in the mid-1880s. She was also the mother-in-law of later church president Joseph F. Smith and of...

. She took over management of the mansion while he continued his duties as president. In March 1885, soon after John Taylor's final public appearance, federal marshals made a massive raid on the mansion to capture him. This and subsequent raids were unsuccessful, and his "tough-minded sister ... often held raiding marshals and deputies at bay at the front door of the mansion, admitting no one unless he presented papers properly signed by a federal judge." After her brother's 1887 death, Taylor vacated the house.

The Victorian mansion was demolished on 1921-11-26.