Salt Lake Assembly Hall
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The Salt Lake Assembly Hall is a building owned by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
(LDS Church) which sits on the southwest corner of
Temple Square Temple Square is a complex, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah. The usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities that are immediately ...
in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
,
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
. It has
seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
for an audience of approximately 1,400 people.


Design

The Assembly Hall is a Victorian Gothic congregation hall. Rough granite walls are laid out in
cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...
style making the hall's exterior look like a small gothic
cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
. Twenty-four
spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
s mark the perimeter of the building's footprint and a tower rises from the intersection of the floor plan's apparent
crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...
. The cruciform layout is complemented by
Stars of David The Star of David (). is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the ''seal of Solomon'', which was used for decorative ...
circumscribed high above each entrance. These symbolize an LDS perception that they are a re-gathering of Biblical
Tribes of Israel The Twelve Tribes of Israel ( he, שִׁבְטֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל, translit=Šīḇṭēy Yīsrāʾēl, lit=Tribes of Israel) are, according to Hebrew Bible, Hebrew scriptures, the descendants of the biblical Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch ...
. However, the deceptively Gothic exterior conceals a more modern interior lacking vaulted ceilings. Although built of
quartz monzonite Quartz monzonite is an intrusive, felsic, igneous rock that has an approximately equal proportion of orthoclase and plagioclase feldspars. It is typically a light colored phaneritic (coarse-grained) to porphyritic granitic rock. The plagioclase ...
rock from the same quarry as the Salt Lake Temple, the Assembly Hall's unhewn exterior looks much different. The stones for the Assembly Hall were not cut as exactingly as the temple's. This accounts for the building's dark, rough texture and the broader
masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...
joints between stones. The
Seagull Monument The Seagull Monument is a small monument situated immediately in front of the Salt Lake Assembly Hall on Temple Square, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Monument commemorates what some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...
sits directly in front of the building to the east.


History

Construction of the Assembly Hall began on August 11, 1877. Building began on the southwest corner of Temple Square on the site of what was called the " Old Tabernacle," razed earlier that year. The old structure, an
adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
building determined by the LDS Church to be inadequate, was built in 1852 and seated 2500. The "Old Tabernacle" is not to be confused with the still-extant
Salt Lake Tabernacle The Salt Lake Tabernacle, also known as the Mormon Tabernacle, is located on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, in the U.S. state of Utah. The Tabernacle was built from 1863 to 1875 to house meetings for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sa ...
, built in 1867. The domed Tabernacle sits directly north of the Assembly Hall. During the first two years of construction, the Assembly Hall was confusingly called the "new tabernacle."
John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar may refer to: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 *John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) (178 ...
, then president of the church, cleared up the confusion by naming it the "Salt Lake Assembly Hall" in 1879. Obed Taylor was commissioned as architect, and designed the structure in Victorian Gothic style, which was popular at the time. Using mostly discarded
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
stone from the ongoing construction of the Salt Lake Temple, builder
Henry Grow Henry Grow, Jr. (October 1, 1817 – November 4, 1891) was a Latter-day Saint ("Mormon") builder and civil engineer in pioneer-era Utah. His most notable achievement was aiding the construction of the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Squar ...
completed construction in 1882 at a total cost of $90,000. After the Tabernacle, the Assembly Hall was the second permanent structure completed on Temple Square. It has been modified several times since completion, however. A four-foot flying-angel
weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...
like one that topped the original
Nauvoo Temple The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.''Manuscript History of the Church'', LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). ''The Papers of Jose ...
in
Nauvoo, Illinois Nauvoo ( ; from the ) is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 950 at the 2020 census. Nauvoo attracts visitors for its historic importance and its ...
was removed. Additionally, the original ceiling murals depicting ancient and modern prophets in the LDS Church were painted over. The most comprehensive renovations occurred from 1979 to 1983 to correct structural weaknesses in the building's tower and roof trusses. While rebuilding the tower, each of the Assembly Hall's 24 spires were replaced with
fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
moldings. Additionally, all the softwood benches were refinished. Acoustics in the building were enhanced by installing hundreds of small speakers. Currently, the Assembly Hall hosts occasional free weekend music concerts and is used as overflow for the church's biannual general conferences.


Organs

During the renovations of the 1970-80s, Robert L. Sipe Organbuilders installed a new three-manual, 65-rank, 3,489 pipe
organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...
with a "German accent." The renovations also included creation of rehearsal studios in the building's basement containing three additional organs and a one-manual harpsichord built in 1981 by
William Dowd William Richmond Dowd (28 February 1922 – 25 November 2008) was an American harpsichord maker and one of the most important pioneers of the historical harpsichord movement. Life and career Born in Newark, New Jersey, he studied English literatu ...
. The southwest practice studio features a three-manual, 12-rank, 727 pipe organ built by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, Connecticut. The console was built in 1963, while the chests and pipework were redone in 1982 The southeast studio organ was built by the Kenneth Coulter Organ Company of Eugene, Oregon in 1985, the Bach tricentennial year. It was specifically designed to imitate features of German Late Baroque organs and features three manuals, 7 ranks, and 410 pipes. The northeast practice studio organ was built in 1979 by the
Casavant Frères Casavant Frères is a Canadian organ building company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building pipe organs since 1879. As of 2014, the company has produced more than 3,900 organs. Company history Brothers Joseph-Claver (1855–1933 ...
organ company of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec It is a mechanical action instrument and features interchangeable pedalboards, allowing for the use of either a modern concave design or the older flat European style. It has two manuals, seven ranks, and 452 pipes.


References


External links

* * Pipe Organs of Temple Square images on Wikimedia Commons
Assembly Hall on Temple Square
Official site
Assembly Hall
at TempleSquare.com {{Latter-day Saint Tabernacles Churches completed in 1882 19th-century Latter Day Saint church buildings Religious buildings and structures in Salt Lake City Tabernacles (LDS Church) in Utah Temple Square Granite buildings Stone buildings in the United States Historic district contributing properties in Utah