The Beehive House was one of the official residences of Brigham Young, the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The beehive house got its name from the sculpture of a beehive on the top of the house.
The Beehive House was built in 1854, two years before the neighboring Lion House (also Young’s residence) was built. Both houses are located one block east of the Salt Lake Temple and Temple Square on South Temple Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. The home was designed by Young’s son-in-law and Salt Lake Temple architect Truman O. Angell, who also designed the Lion’s Home. It was built of adobe and sandstone.
Young was a polygamist and the Beehive House was designed to accommodate his large family. The Beehive House also became his official residence as governor of the Utah Territory and president of the Latter-day Saint Church. After its completion, Young briefly shared the Beehive House with his eldest (and only legally recognized) wife, Mary Ann Angell (1803-1882), although she chose to make her home in the White House, a smaller residence on the property. Young’s first polygamous wife, Lucy Ann Decker Young (1822-1890), perhaps because of her seniority, became mistress of the Hive House and lived there with her nine children.
Beehive House served as the executive mansion of the Utah Territory from 1852 to 1855, and here Young entertained guests. The house is connected by a set of rooms to the Lion House. This suite included Young’s offices and his private bedroom, where he died in 1877.
Private use after Young’s death
After Young’s death, there was much controversy and litigation between Young’s heirs over what was Young’s property and what was the property of the church. Beehive House was among the objects in dispute; although eventually ownership was transferred to Young’s heirs. Beehive House was replaced as the executive mansion by the much more stately Gardeau House, which was briefly occupied by Young’s religious successors, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff.
Beginning in the late 1880s, Young’s son, John W. Young, added a large Victorian-style addition to the rear of the building and significantly remodeled the old part of the house. The Young family lost the house when it was sold at auction in 1893 to pay off John W. Young’s debts.
John Beck, a successful miner and businessman, lived in the house for a short time before it was also sold to satisfy his creditors. It was later purchased by the Church and used as the official home of Church presidents Lorenzo Snow and his successor Joseph F. Smith, both of whom died in the mansion. Smith, who died in 1918, was the last president of the church to practice polygamy at the time of his death and shared the residence with his four wives.