Horizontal bands of stone and decorative lintels and keystones separate window fenestrations between floors, and a tin cornice on each wing contains "broken pediments, volutes, lion's heads, cove mouldings, brackets, dentils, and flagpoles."

[2][3] The Salt Lake Daily Herald was a newspaper founded in 1870 by publishers William C. Dunbar and Edward L. Sloan.

[4] At the time of construction of the Herald Building, the newspaper was owned by William A. Clark, a wealthy entrepreneur and politician from Montana.

In 1904 Clark formed a realty company with Richard C. Kerens, Thomas Kearns, and David Keith for construction projects in Salt Lake City, including the $100,000 Herald Building.

An early tenant of the Herald Building was the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, and William A. Clark also was a major stockholder in that company.