THE GREAT TEMPLE AT SALT LAKE CITY--EXTERIOR
{172} Before us stands the completed structure, the visible result
of four decades of devoted toil,--a period marked in the beginning
by poverty and penury followed by relative prosperity and plenty.
The impression produced by a first view of the exterior is that
of massiveness coupled with a sense of assured stability. Closer
examination and more intimate acquaintance serve to intensify this
early impression, while revealing numerous details of uniqueness in
plan and of excellence in construction. As to architectural design
the Temple belongs to a class of its own. Originality rather than
novelty characterizes every prominent feature. And yet there is nothing
apparent that speaks of strained effect nor of conscious effort for
departure from more conventional lines. The Temple is no oddity in
architecture; on the contrary it is strictly in place both as to
material environment and spiritual atmosphere.
The building is of composite style, presenting features of both the
Gothic and the Roman. By architects of experience it has been described
as a modification of the Round Gothic, while others have called it
Romanesque, in that it follows in part the castellated style so highly
developed in England. But, even if this description be true as to the
exterior, it is wholly inapplicable within. There are no high-vaulted
Gothic ceilings, nor massive beams after the style Romanesque; on
the contrary {173} the interior partakes rather of the nature of
Renaissance design.[1]
The Temple was constructed for specific use; it was intended for
service widely different from that of cathedral, tabernacle, mosque,
or synagogue; and the building was planned and patterned to suit its
distinctive purpose. Such was and is the reason for its being, the
explanation of its design, both vindication and justification of its
plan.
As has been shown, the plans of the building were made known, and
a fairly detailed description thereof was published in 1854.[2] A
careful examination of the structure as it now appears shows that in
every essential particular the original plan of the exterior has been
followed almost to exactness. Details of spires, turrets, and finials,
had not been determined when the design was first announced; and in
these as in certain other particulars the original plan has been added
to; but no essential alteration has been introduced.
As it stands, the building is one hundred eighty-six feet six inches
long, and one hundred eighteen feet six inches wide including
ground-level extensions of the corner towers, or ninety-nine feet wide
in the main body. The side walls are one hundred sixty-seven feet six
inches high; the west center tower has a height of two hundred {174}
and four feet, and the corresponding tower at the east rises six feet
higher. The entire area covered by the building is twenty-one thousand
eight hundred and fifty square feet.
The walls are set upon a massive footing, which extends sixteen feet
below ground, is sixteen feet wide at the base, and narrows to nine
feet at the top. From the ground-level to the globes surmounting the
spires the walls are of granite, every block accurately cut as to
dimension and pattern, and fitted with equal nicety outside and inside.
The windows, both arched and oval, all deeply set in their granite
recesses, are framed with oolite. Throughout the first story the walls
are eight feet thick; in the upper structure the thickness is reduced
by stages to a minimum of six feet. The buttresses are uniformly one
foot thicker than the walls proper.
The building consists of three towers at each end--east and west,
and between these extends the main body, suggesting, to the observer
at a distance, a vast intermediate nave. In ground-plan the Temple
is strikingly symmetrical, each of the central axes being an axis of
symmetry. The westerly half is a repetition of the easterly, and the
southerly half duplicates the northerly. Lines running north and south
through the centre of the three towers at either end are also lines of
symmetry, dividing the towers into corresponding parts.
Repetition of parts appears also in vertical section. Thus, above the
first belt or string course, that is to say, immediately above the
basement or first floor, is the second story, indicated without by a
series of high arched windows between the buttresses; above these is a
series of elliptical or oval windows. The belt course immediately {175}
above these oval openings marks the centre of construction as seen
in the vertical section of the main body. The upper half, up to the
level of the top belt-course, is in general a repetition of the lower.
The roof has so little pitch as to be practically flat, there being a
rise of but eight feet from edge to centre. Between the end towers,
that is to say in the main body of the building, the walls carry nine
buttresses or pilasters on both north and south sides. Each of these
pilasters rises above the parapets and battlement walls, and is capped
by a granite block three and a half feet square at its base and two
and a half feet high. Of these pilaster caps, four on either wall are
open and constitute the tops of ventilator shafts which extend to the
basement.
Above the roof level rise the upper sections of the towers with their
spires and finials. Octagonal turrets occupy the corners of the towers,
and each turret is surmounted by a pyramidal monolith, six feet high
and three feet in diameter at the base; the apex of this pyramid is cut
to represent an acanthus cluster. Each of the six towers is surmounted
by a pyramidal spire, which terminates in a spherical capstone. The cut
blocks forming the spires are two feet in thickness; the capstones of
the four corner towers are three feet in diameter, while those of the
two center towers measure eight inches more.
The spherical termination of the east center tower, which is the
highest stone in the building, and therefore the capstone proper,
supports a statue, the crown of which marks the point of greatest
altitude in the entire structure. The figure, which stands twelve and
a half feet high, is that of a man in the character of a herald or
messenger, blowing a trumpet. In pose and proportion the figure is
{176} graceful and gentle, yet virile and strong; the drapings are
simple, and leave only feet, arms, neck, and head bare. Around the head
is a slender circlet supporting high-power incandescent lamps. The
statue is of hammered copper thickly overlaid with gold-leaf. It is the
work of C. E. Dallin, Utah-born, and now of more than national fame as
a sculptor. The figure is intended to represent Moroni, the Nephite
prophet, who died about 421 A.D., and who, as a resurrected being,
came in 1823 to the boy-prophet Joseph Smith, and delivered to him the
message of the restored Gospel, in accordance with the prediction of
the ancient Seer:
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and
to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with
a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his
judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and
the sea, and the fountains of water."[3]
As has been described in connection with the ceremonies of the
capstone-laying, April 6, 1892, the stone upon which rests the statue
is one of the record stones of the Temple.[4] Another record stone
is to be noted. This lies at the south-east corner of the building
immediately beneath the first layer of granite. It is a quartzite
block three feet in length and twenty inches in both width and depth.
A cavity one square foot in cross-section holds printed books,
periodicals, and manuscript records, which were placed therein at the
time of laying the first granite course. A slab of quartzite closes the
cavity and {177} is cemented in place with due provision against the
entrance of moisture.
There are in the walls several series of stones of emblematical
design and significance, such as those representing the earth, moon,
sun, and stars, and in addition are cloud stones, and stones bearing
inscriptions.
The earth-stones are thirty-four in number, eleven on each side and six
on each end of the building. They are set on the pedestal course, or
first granite course, extending twenty-eight inches above ground. There
is one of these stones in each buttress, excepting only the buttresses
at the junction of the towers with the main body. These earth-stones
constitute the largest cuboidal blocks in the building; each of them
measures five feet six inches in height, four feet six inches in width,
and one foot eight inches in thickness, and weighs little less than
three and one-half tons. Each of these massive blocks is cut to show
part of the surface of a sphere, the segment having a diameter of over
three feet.
Blocks cut to represent the moon in its several phases, and known as
moon-stones, occupy conspicuous places in the buttresses immediately
below the second string-course or water-table; they are therefore
on a level with the top of the first or lower line of oval windows
corresponding to the ceiling of the Mezzanine story. There are fifty
such moon-stones; each four feet seven inches high, three feet six
inches wide, and one foot thick.
Sun-stones are set in the buttresses directly under the third
belt-course or water-table, which is practically the level of the roof.
There are fifty of these, each cut to represent the body of the sun,
with a serrated edge of fifty-two points illustrative of the sun's
rays. These {178} stones are each four feet seven inches high, three
feet six inches wide, and ten inches thick.
Star-stones are numerous; each bears in relief the figure of a
five-pointed star. On the east center-tower immediately below the
battlements are sixteen of these, four of each face; and on each of the
east corner-towers are twelve such stones, making forty on these towers
alone. The keystones of the doorways and those of the window arches
belong to this class, each bearing a single star.
Star-stones of another kind appear on the face of the center tower at
the west. Here, above the highest window and extending to the base
of the battlement course, are seen the seven stars of the northern
constellation Ursa Major or Great Bear, otherwise known as the
Dipper. The group is so placed that the two stars called pointers are
practically in line with the North Star itself.
Cloud-stones, two in number, are seen on the upper face of the east
center tower, immediately under the cap-pings of the main buttresses.
These show a cluster of cumulus clouds through which the sun's rays are
breaking. The face so carved is five feet by three and a half feet in
area.
Reference has been made to inscription-stones which form part of the
exterior walls. The principal stone of this class is seen on the
east centre tower, above the windows, corresponding in position to
the starry constellation on the center tower at the west. The main
inscription, which occupies a surface a little over twenty by six feet,
consists of letters deeply cut and heavily gilded.[5] In the arches
over the great windows of the central towers {179} appear inscriptions
which are alike at both ends of the building. The keystone of the
lower window bears on a carven scroll "_I am Alpha and Omega_."[6]
This inscription, a figurative epitome of both time and eternity, and
a proclamation of Him who is without beginning and without end, has a
peculiar appropriateness over the central casements of this, the House
of the Lord; and he who pauses to read may well consider the text and
its context in full: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come,
the Almighty."[7]
Immediately beneath this inscription in the lower window arch of
the centre tower appears in relief the emblem of the clasped hands,
betokening the bond of brotherhood and the free offering of the right
hand of fellowship. On the corresponding stones above the upper windows
in each of the center towers is a carven emblem of the All-seeing Eye.
Entrance to the Temple directly from without is afforded by four great
doorways, two at either end; each of these portals occupies a court
between the center tower and the adjoining corner tower. The four
door-ways are of like construction. A flight of sixteen granite steps
leads up the court; the lowest of these steps is approximately sixteen
feet in length, the top step about nine feet, and each of the steps
between about ten feet long. On the uppermost granite slab rests the
threshold or door-step proper, which is of cast bronze. The door-way
is eight feet wide, and sixteen feet six inches in extreme height.
This is closed by double doors with {180} arched transom. The doors
proper are twelve feet high, and each single door is four feet wide.
In each door the bottom panel is of oak, while the middle and upper
panels are occupied by beveled plate glass protected by bronze grills
of intricate pattern carrying a bee-hive medallion in the center. The
hardware attachments are all of cast bronze, and are of special design.
The door-knob bears in relief the bee-hive, above which, in a curved
line, appear the words, "Holiness to the Lord." The escutcheon presents
in relief the clasped hands within a wreath of olive twigs, an arch
with keystone, and the dates "1853-1893"--the years in which the great
building was commenced and completed.
On the side of each of the doorways flanking the center tower is a
canopied niche in the granite, large enough to receive a statue of
heroic proportions.[8]
Such is the great Temple as seen from without. The massive pile
impresses even the casual observer as a type of permanency, and the
embodiment of the stable and the durable. It stands as an isolated mass
of the everlasting hills. As nearly as any work of man may so do, it
suggests duration.
FOOTNOTES
1. Joseph D. C. Young, the architect-in-charge during the later period
of construction, wrote as follows in answer to an inquiry of the author
in January, 1912; "Questions as to the style of architecture embodied
in the great Temple have been asked time and time again. Some prominent
architects have classed it as Round Gothic; others have said that it
is practically unclassifiable, it being 'all material and not at all
design.' In my judgment it might be called the Romanesque modified by
the Castellated style."
2. See pages 144-147.
3. Rev. 14:6, 7.
4. See pages 151-152.
5. See page 136.
6. See Rev. 1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13
7. Rev. 1:8.
8. For a number of years the niches at the east end of the Temple
were occupied by bronze figures of Joseph Smith the prophet and Hyrum
Smith the patriarch. These figures have since been removed to the open
grounds within the Temple Block enclosure.