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Show Utah Pioneer Trails Temple Planned From Leader's Sketches Editor's Note: The third in a series of articles on little-known history of Utah's Pioneers appears in today's issue of the News Bulletin. Through cooperation and permission of the Sons of Utah Pioneers Foundation the series is being published. Copies of articles may be obtained at the Bulletin offices. the forty acres for the Temple. The city can be laid out perfectly square, north and south, east and west." On the morning of Aug. 2, 1847, Orson Pratt and Elder Sherwood began the actual survey of the city. They finally decided that 40 acres was too large an area Temple block, saying: "Here is (Continued on Page 6) Bulletin Special The Salt Lake Temple, center of the Mormon religion, was started in 1853, but its history dates back, to July 28, 1847. On that date, Brigham Young, president of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, the governing body of the Church, and Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff and Thomas Bullock "designated the site for the Temple block between the forks of City Creek," where it now stands. At the same time, it was unanimously unan-imously voted that the city lots be 10 by 20 rods, 11 and one-quarter one-quarter acres, and that the streets be eight rods wide. President Young at first want- TEMPLE PLAN (Continued from Page 1) ed "0 acres set aside for the for the temple block, and the Quorum cut the area to 10 acres. As the Temple was nearing completion com-pletion there was a dispute as to its designer and architect. Some c;ave the credit to William Ward. However, an an article which appeared ap-peared in the Deseret News under date of April 15, 1892, Mr. Ward who was then connected with the University of Utah, made the following fol-lowing statement: "I came to Salt Lake in 1850; was first employed as superintendent superin-tendent of the stone cutting department de-partment of the public works; afterwards as assistant to Truman Tru-man O. Angell, the Church architect. arch-itect. In that situation I did not design nor assist in designing the Temple. I did just what I did for any other architect by whom I was employed in a similar capacity ca-pacity subsequently in the Eastern East-ern states. "The design was formulated in the following manner: Brigham Young drew upon a slate in the architect's office a sketch, and said to Truman: O. Angell: 'There will be three towers on the east, representing the President and his two Counselors; also three similar towers on the west representing the Presiding Bishop and his two Counselors; the towers on the east, the Melchizdek priesthood, those on the west the Aaronic priesthood. The center towers will be higher than those on the sides, and the west towers a little lower than those on the east end. The body of the building will be between be-tween these and pillars will be necessary to support the floors.' Angell then asked about the height, and drew the following vertical section according to Brigham's instructions: The basement base-ment 16 feet high to contain the font. The first story twenty-five feet high between the pillars, but between the pillars and side walls fifteen feet high, leaving room for a tier of rooms about the side aisles about ten feet below the second floor. The construction of the roof was left to Mr. Angell. Angell's idea and aim was to make it different to any other known building,, and I think he succeeded as to the general combination." com-bination." The Deseret News then commented com-mented as follows : "It must be evident to everybody every-body who knows anything about the interior of a Temple, that no ordinary architect could design de-sign the various departments and their connections, considering the purpose for which they were to be constructed. President Brig-ham Brig-ham Young gave the necessary directions di-rections for these while he lived, and his successors have continued to instruct the architect as occasion oc-casion required. After the death of Truman O. Angell, his son, T. O. Angell, Jr., had oversight of the work until the appointment of another Church Architect, Joseph Don Carlos Young, a son of our late President, under whose supervision su-pervision the building has attained at-tained its present degree of perfection per-fection and who will doubtless continue the work until its close. |
