Richard K.A. Kletting: Reexamining the legacy of Utah’s quiet architect

When Poplar Grove resident and researcher Nan Weber began looking into the history of her own neighborhood, she wasn’t expecting it to turn into a decade-long endeavour. But one building — an out-of-place mansion near the Jordan River — caught her attention and eventually pulled her into the life and work of one of Utah’s most influential architects: Richard Karl August Kletting.

Weber’s work later became a major contribution to Richard K.A. Kletting: Utah Architect and Renaissance Man, written with preservation architect Alan Dale  Roberts, FAIA. But the project started much smaller — with simple curiosity.

“I bought my little frame house, which was [built in] 1902,” Weber said. “And I was really curious about the workers that worked in all these single-dwelling homes. Then I came across the Fisher Mansion… and I thought, well, this is really different than the rest of the architecture here.”

From that point on, Weber was hooked.