Porterville Ward

The story of the Porterville Ward (a small town south of Morgan, Utah) is a sad one. It is on a site just outside of the small town on a hill overlooking the valley. It was built in 1898. The main floor was the chapel, while the basement was another large hall for activities. It was a lovely sandstone building.

Source: Utah State Historical Society

In 1942, the building was sold to a private owner and a new chapel was built near the center of town. The owner reported that people kept throwing rocks at the windows, removing pews and benches, while pigeons roosted in the attic. By at least 1975, the chapel was renovated into a home where a new owner lived. In 2001, one of the daughters left a candle burning in her bedroom, which eventually burned the entire meetinghouse down.


The meetinghouse originally had all of its walls still standing, but sometime in the past few years, the front wall came down. It's terribly sad to see, although the scaffolding looks like someone is doing something with it.

Newport Beach (CA) Ward

Note: This post is one in a series that focuses on LDS architecture that is not historic, but that departs from standard cookie-cutter plans to become unique and beautiful in a different way. To see all of these posts, click here.

It's always interesting to stumble across a modern building (in this case, the chapel below in Long Beach, CA; just a few blocks from the ocean) and find something very unique. I always wish I could find out the story behind it.

This chapel has a beautiful tile mosaic along its southeast entrance:

It depicts the vision of the tree of life found in the Book of Mormon.

On the right side is presumably the great and spacious building, high up in the air.

On the left is the tree of life, with lines of people in the confusing mists of darkness on the left.

 It's pretty fun to find things like this in these buildings. The primary room also has a large mural of Christ with the children (the same one found in St. George and Blanding), but I wasn't able to get inside. It was still neat to see this mosaic.

River Heights Ward

River Heights, tucked into the southeast corner of Logan, has a chapel that was built in 1914. Its main distinction is the beautiful details on the south end.

(Image Source: Church History Library)

While the building still stands, and is in fair condition, it looks like it's being used as a warehouse for the Utah Festival Opera foundation. At least, it looks like a warehouse when I peeked in:

It looks like it was sold at least a couple of decades ago, maybe longer, based on its condition.

Santa Monica (CA) Ward: Mural Detail

I wish I knew more about the history of this mural at the back of the chapel. It was painted by Joseph Gibby, who also painted the murals in the Los Angeles Temple Baptistry and a few other temples. Joseph was not in California until 1926, so it was very likely added after the building's dedication.

Pioneers enter the Salt Lake Valley on the left side. You can see Native Americans in the valley below. A pioneer couple on the right side gaze on the Salt Lake Temple (or a vision of it) above them. To the right, you can see normal buildings of the city (including the capitol building).