Most notably: A number of business managers; several City employees; sugar factory workers; a judge and a janitor, among others. In 1930 there were 4 single women living in the building and resident occupations leaned more heavily towards corporate officers.
Leslie Hodgson is largely responsible for the design and construction of nearly every single architecturally significant, landmark building still standing in Ogden today.
Completed in 1937, it is known as the Nation’s first, ‘Million dollar High School’. With its ornate Art Deco styling, Hodgson built this school as the educational showplace that it still is today.
Hodgson & McClenahan also built the David Eccles, “Sky-Scraper” in 1910. Originally built as professional office space, the building narrowly escaped the swing of the wrecking ball in the late 90’s and the Plaza Hotel corporation operated the building as a boutique hotel for a short time in 2002, before it was transformed into the Hampton Inn & Suites, (according to some, quite possibly the “swankiest” Hampton Inn in the world)
Originally named the Hotel Bigelow, it was constructed in 1927 by Hodgson / McClenahan for A. Peery and is considered to be one of only three ‘grand hotels’ in Utah.
In 1923, after a devastating fire that destroyed the Arlington Hotel, Hodgson and Peery joined forces again, when D.H. Peery hired the firm of Hodgson & McClenahan to construct, Peery’s Egyptian Theater. This magnificent movie palace, with its atmospheric ceiling and Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ , is considered to be one of the top 3 examples of Egyptian themed theaters in the entire country.
When it opened for occupancy in
1910, the Peery was looked upon
as a trendsetting structure.
With its sleek new Prairie School
style of architecture and prime
location atop a hill, overlooking
the commercial district, the Peery
quickly became one of the more
sought after apartment buildings
in Ogden, appealing to many of
the city’s single business men.
The building’s appeal wasn’t
lost on Ogden’s female popu-
lation either, as it soon became
home to a sampling of the city’s
notable business women also.
David H. Peery and his wife Elizabeth, lived in a beautiful, Gothic style mansion, that was located just a block away at 24th St. and Adams Ave. The Peery Mansion towered over 3 stories above street level including its turrets and was estimated to have measured over 20,000 sq. feet. (nearly twice the size of the Eccles Community Art Center )
.
Mryl McClenahan died in 1940, putting and end
to the pair’s 20 year partnership together.
The city’s brand new Peery Apartments appealed to a wide
cross-section of Ogden City’s business men and women.
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Hodgson and Smith ended their
6-year business partnership, shortly
after the completion of the Peery Apartments in 1910. Hodgson then met and partnered with, Myrl A. McClenahan in 1920 and the two set out, designing and erecting some of the most spectacular and architecturally important buildings in the State of Utah.
On the evening of July 23, 1947 during a visit with his daughter, Hodgson complained of feeling fatigued. He decided to go home shortly after he had arrived and spent the rest of the evening preparing for a weekend trip to Ogden Canyon with his family.
Leslie S. Hodgson was found the next morning, dead at the age of 68.
In 1909, D.H. Peery, one of Ogden’s most prominent and successful business men, hired the architectural firm of Smith & Hodgson to build the Peery Apartments as an investment property.
In the early 1900’s, Ogden was in the middle of an economic boom, that transformed the city into an important urban center.
With the rapidly expanding railroad industry and the introduction of major manufacturing plants and governmental facilities, Ogden was experiencing a housing shortage.
Apartment buildings were built and promoted in response to the housing demand, as a new, modern and ‘urban’ way of living in the early part of the 20th Century.
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Gone but not forgotten, Hodgson’s design influence and dramatic architectural style continues to live on in the beautiful and esthetically pleasing design elements that are found in each and every one of the buildings he created throughout his career .
