Obed Taylor

Who is Obed Taylor?

Obed Taylor was an architect who designed many notable buildings in early Utah that survive on the National Register of Historic Places. Taylor's works include the Salt Lake Assembly Hall on Temple Square, the Salt Lake 18th Ward meetinghouse, and Ogden's Z.C.M.I. and First National Bank Block. Though Thomas L. Allen has been credited with being the architect of the Summit Stake Tabernacle, Taylor approved of the plans and likely assisted Allen who was untrained as an architect. Obed Taylor worked in partnership with William H. Folsom on many projects including the Deseret National Bank, ZCMI's cast-iron storefront, and the Feramorz Little residence. He died at the height of his architectural career in 1881. Funeral services were held in the Salt Lake 18th Ward meetinghouse which he had recently designed. The Walker Opera House as well as a building at the University of Deseret were designed by Taylor but completed after his death.