engineering

ZCMI Cast Iron Front

ZCMI Cast Iron Front is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand ZCMI Cast Iron Front rather than just read about it. In short: The ZCMI Cast Iron Front is a historic building façade, currently attached to City Creek Center facing Main Street in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The façade, built of cast iron and stamped sheet metal between 1876 and 1901 (with portions recreated in the 1970s), is a well-preserved example of a metal façade, and a reminder of the city's 19th-century commercial past.

Key takeaways

ZCMI Cast Iron Front belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect ZCMI Cast Iron Front to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of ZCMI Cast Iron Front from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The ZCMI Cast Iron Front is a historic building façade, currently attached to City Creek Center facing Main Street in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The façade, built of cast iron and stamped sheet metal between 1876 and 1901 (with portions recreated in the 1970s), is a well-preserved example of a metal façade, and a reminder of the city's 19th-century commercial past. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. First attached to the Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI) building, it was removed when that structure was razed in the 1970s, after which it was restored and attached to the ZCMI Center Mall. In the 2010s, it was then attached to City Creek Center when that development replaced the older mall.

Design The façade is three stories in height, and is divided into three sections, articulated by square columns between them and at the ends. Each section is about 50 feet (15 m) wide and each is composed of seven bays, separated by paneled columns with Corinthian capitals. Above the first two floors there are modillioned cornices separating the floors, with a deeper projecting cornice at the roof level. The roof cornice of the outer levels is further adorned with a layer of dentil work below the modillions, and has brackets above each of the columns. The middle section cornice includes a fully pedimented gable and is raised above a frieze panel with vine motifs around two circular panels with the dates 1868 and 1999, and a central panel bearing the legend ZCMI.

History ZCMI was founded in October 1868, and is described as the first department store in the United States. Its flagship store for many decades was opened in downtown Salt Lake City on April 1, 1876. This 1876 building was designed by local architects William H. Folsom and Obed Taylor, and at first featured only the central portion of the façade, which was fashioned out of cast iron. During two building expansions, occurring in 1880 and 1901, the façade was extended, the first time also in cast iron, the second time in stamped sheet metal. In May 1969, ZCMI's owner, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), announced plans to develop a shopping mall to replace ZCMI's ageing downtown buildings. These plans called for maintaining the "spirit and semblance" of the historic façade, while demolishing the buildings behind it. This included either saving and restoring the façade, or fabricating a new one made to look like the original. The possibly of a replacement rather than restoration caused a furor in the community. The owners brought in local architect, Steven T. Baird, who determined there was enough historic fabric remaining that the façade could be restored rather than replaced; a process he would oversee. In October 1973, disassembly of the façade began. The pieces were inspected and multiple layers of paint removed. Since the northern section had been made of sheet metal, a cast iron replacement was created, which also afforded the opportunity to match it with the proportions of the other sections. The restoration also required that the first story of the façade be recast, as it had largely been obliterated when the front was modernized with larger windows. The façade was then reconstructed, in approximately its original location, on the face of the new ZCMI store at the ZCMI Center Mall, with the project completing in 1976. The façade's placement on a steel frame, slightly away from the mall structure, created a loggia. In October 2006, the church announced it would be tearing down the ZCMI Center Mall and replacing it with a new mixed-use development called City Creek Center. While City Creek Center was built, the façade was dismantled and stored. Following reconditioning by Historical Arts & Casting, Inc., it was reassembled from 2010 to 2011, and City Creek Center opened in March 2012. It is currently attached to the west face of Macy's department store, in the same general location as the original.

Visual evolution

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with ZCMI Cast Iron Front

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what ZCMI Cast Iron Front claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to ZCMI Cast Iron Front before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about ZCMI Cast Iron Front ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of ZCMI Cast Iron Front

In research: ZCMI Cast Iron Front appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses ZCMI Cast Iron Front in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: ZCMI Cast Iron Front is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Buildings and structures completed in 1876, Buildings and structures in Salt Lake City, National Register of Historic Places in Salt Lake City, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for ZCMI Cast Iron Front outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study ZCMI Cast Iron Front in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what ZCMI Cast Iron Front means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain ZCMI Cast Iron Front out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is ZCMI Cast Iron Front in simple terms?

Why does ZCMI Cast Iron Front matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study ZCMI Cast Iron Front?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on ZCMI Cast Iron Front.