The St. George Temple begins its open house this week, and pictures of the renovation were posted today on the Church Newsroom site. I wanted to share my thoughts on the results. (If you want a more detailed history/layout of the temple, see my other post that includes floor plans.)
First, the historical significance of the St. George Temple (and other pioneer temples) is usually forgotten in favor of the more prominent Salt Lake Temple. This was the first temple in Utah, and really, the only "pioneer" temple in that it was completed entirely before a railroad was available at the temple site. Everything in the St. George Temple came from the local area, with the exception of the glass (which was shipped to Salt Lake and then brought down on wagon carts). The pioneers were ingenious in their use of construction materials.
Second, the temple has undergone significant changes even before this renovation. The ordinance rooms were originally housed in the basement, and were only officially bumped up to the second floor entirely in the 1930s (when murals were also added). The temple's only main staircases, two spiral ones on the east side, are insufficient, and so in the 1970s, a whole addition was added on the west side with a new staircase. In that renovation, murals were also removed, the 4-stage progression was converted to stationary, and other changes were made.
Overall, this renovation is very sensitive to the time period in which the temple was built. Whenever something could fit the time period of the late 1800s, it appears they went with that. In terms of structural integrity, though, the temple had to have some major upgrades, meaning some major parts of the temple are no longer "original." This includes the wood windows. However, on the tour, I did notice that some windows in the assembly hall floor still had the "wavy" or "bubbly" look that used to indicate that it was original glass. So maybe they kept some of the original glass, although it was upgraded to triple-pane windows. The floors and ceilings (which were sagging), and major parts of the walls, especially on the main floor, were also replaced.
The Baptistry
The font bowl and oxen are the originals from 1877. Much of the font railings appear more ornate than they were before (from the 1970 renovation).
Ordinance Rooms
The 1930 murals were removed in the 1970s renovation. In the 1990s, the temple president requested that they be replaced, and each ordinance room received one piece of an original mural.
Unfortunately, these original mural pieces are not in the temple anymore. (In Mesa, original mural pieces were placed in certain hallways; I see no indication of that here, and assume they are back in Church archives). Instead, new murals were painted in the three ordinance rooms. Below is the (former) creation room:
The garden room is in the center of the temple, while the creation and world rooms were on the sides. This meant the garden room had a higher, domed ceiling. This higher ceiling was covered with an unenthusiastic drop ceiling in the 1970s renovation, but the higher ceiling is restored now:
It also appears that the murals were very lightly inspired/based off of originals, as you can see the placement of the swan when comparing the new garden mural (above) to the original:
The world room in the southwest corner of the temple certainly has much more red rock than the original did.
While I'm using the terms creation, garden, and world rooms, progression was not restored in this temple. I did not expect it to be restored, although it is disappointing. Had the St. George Temple been renovated in an earlier time frame (such as the late 2000s or early 2010s) it almost certainly would have been restored, as it was in other historic temples (such as Laie). However, the Church appears to be moving away from progression, even when it could be restored. Therefore, while each ordinance room has a themed mural to the creation, garden, or world rooms, patrons remain in each one for almost the entire session. The terrestrial room continues to serve as the veil room:
The mural on the ceiling of the desert sky was not preserved; likely because it was a later addition, and the ceilings had to be replaced.
The celestial room looks much the same. It used to have a small anteroom on the south side which, for all purposes, was part of the celestial room; it has not just been removed and incorporated into the larger celestial room.
Some small decorative paint on the walls are no longer there, likely keeping in the spirit of the original temple decorations.
Finally, the sealing room off the celestial room, in the east tower, remains.
The assembly room also remains on the temple's fourth floor. It appears that less here was touched, and much of it remains original. They added electrical lights here for the first time--the flower molds were built in anticipation of lights; but it took nearly 150 years to add them!
The image here is taken facing toward the Melchizedek Priesthood pulpits on the east end of the temple (toward the front, with the tower). Here is an original image of the assembly room's west end:
The window behind the pulpits went away in the 1970s with the addition on the west end, but they actually brought back the window behind the west (Aaronic Priesthood) pulpits, although it now looks into the west addition staircase instead of outside. Still, a nice touch.
Overall, I'm a bit disappointed that we couldn't keep any of the original murals and that we lost so much of the historic structure like windows and flooring. However, I also understand the Church's desire to make the building meet all modern codes and make it durable, especially in case of future seismic activity.
I didn't touch on any of the new parts of the temple such as the new annex and rebuilt west addition, but they all look lovely. Overall, I'm very happy with this renovation and wish the Salt Lake renovation had followed this one and not been so drastic in the removal of the original ordinance rooms.
When I actually get to the open house I'll post any more thoughts I have. Have you seen the renovated temple? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
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