The Joseph Smith Memorial Building, originally called the Hotel Utah, is a social center located on the corner of Main Street and South Temple in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

. It is named in honor of

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...

, the founder of the

Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...

. It houses several restaurants and also functions as a venue for events. Several levels of the building also serve as administrative offices for

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 nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church) departments such as

FamilySearch FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and is closely connected with the church's Family Hist ...

. On January 3, 1978, it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as the Hotel Utah.

History

The corner of Main Street and South Temple has long been important in Utah history. Prior to construction of the Hotel Utah from 1909 to 1911, the general

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

office of the LDS Church, a

bishop's storehouse A bishop's storehouse in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) usually refers to a commodity resource center that is used by bishops (lay leaders of local congregations analogous to pastors or parish priests in other Chris ...

, and the Deseret News printing plant all were located on the site. Work on the Second

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

style

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

, designed by the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

architectural firm of Parkinson and Bergstrom, began in June 1909. Two years later, on June 9, 1911, the Hotel Utah opened for business. While the LDS Church was the primary stockholder, many

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...

and non-Mormon community and business leaders also purchased stock in the effort to provide the city with a first-class hotel. "The largest and finest bar in the West as builtin the basement of the Hotel" to pay off a $2 million construction loan. The financing was secured by the LDS Church's presiding bishop,

Charles W. Nibley Charles Wilson Nibley (February 5, 1849 – December 11, 1931) was the fifth presiding bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) between 1907 and 1925 and a member of the church's First Presidency from 1925 until his ...

, from New York financier Charles Baruch. Originally, the hotel allowed black employees, but no black guests. This policy extended to famous entertainers.

Lillian Evanti Lillian Evanti (August 12, 1890 – December 6, 1967), was an African American opera singer. Evanti was the first African American to perform with a major European opera company Life She was born in Washington, D.C., and graduated from Armstr ...

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

Marian Anderson Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897April 8, 1993) was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United ...

, and

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

were all denied hotel rooms. Anderson was eventually allowed to stay at the Hotel, on condition that she did not use the elevator and eat her meals in her hotel room. In 1947, the first non-white professional basketball player,

Wataru Misaka Wataru Misaka (December 21, 1923 – November 20, 2019) was an American professional basketball player. A point guard of Japanese descent, he broke a color barrier in professional basketball by being the first non-white player and the first p ...

, signed his first NBA contract at this hotel. At the time of his signing, according to Misaka, nonwhites were not allowed to stay in this hotel. The ten-story building has a concrete and steel structure and is covered with white glazed terra cotta and brick. Various additions and remodelings have occurred throughout the years, including a substantial expansion to the north and modifications to the roof-top dining facilities. It was featured in the 1973 film "Harry in Your Pocket" starring James Coburn. The building ceased operations as a hotel in August 1987. A major remodeling and

adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. It is also known as recycling and conversion. Adaptive reuse is an effective strategy for optimizing the o ...

project to accommodate both community and church functions was completed in 1993. Church leader

Gordon B. Hinckley Gordon Bitner Hinckley (June 23, 1910 – January 27, 2008) was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from March 1995 until his death in January 200 ...

chose the name when he observed that there were many monuments to pioneer leader and Utah founder

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...

, but none to Joseph Smith. The building was decorated with the words "SALT LAKE 2002" during the Winter Olympics. 2011 marked the celebration of 100 years since initial construction was completed on the Hotel Utah.

Features

''The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd'' is a 67-minute film shot in

65 mm 70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is wid ...

and produced by

. It depicts the life of Jesus in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

while depicting the events described in the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...

from approximately the same time period. The film's climax occurs after Christ's

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...

, when Jesus appears in the Americas. The movie was originally shown in the Legacy Theater on a 62x31 foot screen. It replaced '' Legacy: A Mormon Journey'' as the flagship JSMB feature in March 2000. ''The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd'' was later replaced in the theater by '' Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration'', a film commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of

Current use

The building currently hosts: * A large, historical, ornately decorated multi-story lobby, featuring a large white statue of Joseph Smith, and an enormous crystal chandelier. Live classical music is often performed here as background. * The

center, where the public can use the provided computers and materials to do

family history Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

research and

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] * The Legacy Theater, where the public can view regularly scheduled free showings of various LDS movies#Recent films, church-produced movies. The theater originally showed '' Legacy: A Mormon Journey'' and subsequently has also shown '' The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd'', '' Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration'', and '' Meet the Mormons''. * Two restaurants, ''The Roof'' and ''The Garden'', on the top (tenth) floor. * There is a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

used for the Sunday services of various downtown wards. The chapel contains a

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 (1855–1 ...

pipe organ with 2,484 pipes in 45 ranks across two manuals. The organ is characterized by a French accent. * A pair of

peregrine falcons The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey back, ...

returns yearly to nest in a

nest box A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

at the top of the building, which has two

webcams A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or periphe ...

installed in it, viewable to the public.

References

External links

Official Joseph Smith Memorial Building Web Page

Falcon Homepage

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is part of the Utah Department of Natural Resources for the state of Utah in the United States. The mission of the Division of Wildlife Resources is to serve the people of Utah as trustee and guardian of ...

The Roof
an
The Garden
Restaurants, located on the top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building
Hotel Utah
a
University of Utah Digital LibraryMarriott Library Special Collections
{{Authority control 20th-century Latter Day Saint church buildings Neoclassical architecture in Utah Defunct hotels in the United States History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah Joseph Smith Meetinghouses of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah Office buildings in Salt Lake City Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah Properties of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Hotel buildings completed in 1911 Religious buildings and structures completed in 1911 Skyscrapers in Salt Lake City The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah 1993 establishments in Utah National Register of Historic Places in Salt Lake City Skyscraper office buildings in Utah Skyscrapers in Utah