Allen Roberts and Nan Weber (Richard Kletting bio), 12/10/25
Evening with the Authors
Allen Roberts & Nan Weber
Richard K. A. Kletting—Utah Architect and Renaissance Man: His Life and Works
Wednesday, December 10, 6 PM
We are pleased to announce that Allen Roberts and Nan Weber will be here to speak about Richard K. A. Kletting—Utah Architect and Renaissance Man: His Life and Works (published by the authors) on Wednesday, December 10. They will be here from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., will speak at 6:00, and answer questions and sign books before and after that time. To RSVP on Facebook, click here.
Born in Germany in 1858, Richard Karl August Kletting was educated and trained in the classics, engineering and architecture before moving to Paris where, at age twenty-one, he was employed as a draftsman on three of the City of Lights' most impressive Second Empire, Beaux Arts monuments. After immigrating to Salt Lake City, Richard was hired by architect, John Haven Burton. Together they provided architectural designs for two of the Territory's largest projects - the Insane Asylum in Provo and University of Deseret in the Capitol City. A gifted prodigy of boundless ambition, Kletting created his own firm, started a night school and reorganized the Territorial Library. Over the ensuing thirty-five years, Kletting would masterfully design more than fifty types of buildings in thirty different architectural styles, earning him the sobriquet, "Dean of Utah Architects" from his peers. His Salt Palace, Saltair Resort and Utah State Capitol were unparalleled successes for the key figure in Utah's late 19th and early 20th century architectural milieu.
Mining a decade of research, coauthors Allen Dale Roberts, FAIA and Nan Weber provide herein a definitive treatment of Richard Kletting's life and career achievements. Blending biography with architectural history, this catalogue raisonne documents in detail each of the architect's more than 450 buildings, 125 of which remain extant. Their descriptive narrative, supported by hundreds of photos, maps and drawings, reveals the untold background stories of his relationships with client, contractors and competitions with other architects.
One chapter contains biographies of his more than thirty employees, many of whom became the next generation's leading architectural lights. Another is devoted to Kletting's design philosophy, his marketing strategy and his willingness to forsake designing Victorian buildings in favor of embracing modern design and technology. His pioneering of reinforced concrete, "fireproof" and mechanically sophisticated, contemporary structures is highlighted. As his career evolved, far-sighted Kletting involved himself in a variety of public service organizations and projects aimed at improving Salt Lake City's built environment in creative and progressive ways. The authors illuminate the many reasons why Richard Kletting should be considered a true Utah Renaissance Man.
Allen Dale Roberts, FAIA, is a former Architectural Historian with the Utah State Historical Society. A co-founder of Cooper/Roberts Architects (now CRSA), he led the firm's Preservation Architecture Studio from 1976 through 2017, when he retired. In 2017 he was elevated to the College of Fellows in the American Institute of Architects. Roberts is a writer and award-winning author of several books and scores of articles treating a variety of architectural and historical topics, among them the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders, coauthored with the late Linda Sillitoe. He also wrote A Survey of Mormon Architecture, 1847-1930, A History of Sanpete County, City Between the Canyons: A History of Cottonwood Heights, 1849-1953 and Salt Lake City's Historic Architecture, among others. He is in the finishing stages of a forthcoming book: Brigham's Architects: Utah's Pioneer Architect-Builders and Their Works, 1847-1880. As an architect, Roberts has worked on several buildings designed by Richard K. A. Kletting, most recently designing the restoration of the Enos Wall Mansion on South Temple Street in Salt Lake City.
Nan Weber is a researcher with history as a focus. She currently works for Visit Salt Lake Visitor Center sharing information and history with the public. Weber has also been a docent at the Utah State Capitol for eleven years. Preservation, restoration and reactivation of the Fisher Mansion has been a focus of Weber’s since 2015. Before settling in Salt Lake City, Weber worked for traveling Elderhostel Programs (now called Road Scholar) from the University of Montana, Western. Some programs she taught included “In the Footsteps of Lewis and Clark, A New Nation’s Journey West from St. Charles, Missouri to the Pacific Ocean;” “From Stagecoach to Motor Coach, Journey through Yellowstone.” She also created a history of, and co-ordinated a work program titled, “OTO Ranch, Historic Restoration Project” working with the Montana Forest Service.
Richard K. A. Kletting—Utah Architect and Renaissance Man: His Life and Works. Pub. by the authors, 2025. 817 pp. Oversize paperback. $65.00. **Only the first 100 copies will be signed by the authors.** To purchase a copy online, click here.
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