This cultural hall has some features I've seen from other buildings of this era--the benches along the perimeter, original to the building; a small stage. But Harold Helgesen, who was commissioned to paint the mural in the chapel, also did landscape scenery here, lining both walls. It's very unique!
Historic LDS Architecture
Exploring & documenting historic temples, tabernacles and chapels of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS or Mormon Church).
Sunday, November 3, 2024
Mink Creek Ward: Cultural Hall
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Mink Creek Ward: Chapel Interior
(Image Source: Church History Library) |
The building has been very, very well preserved, but the chapel has been remodeled, and it was flipped. The mural remains on the same wall, but it's now at the back of the chapel, instead of behind the pulpit.
Sunday, October 20, 2024
Mink Creek Ward
Monday, October 14, 2024
Beaver Dam Ward: Window Detail
This ward recently had an open house celebrating the history and architecture of their building. For more images, see the other posts I have on this building.
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Bancroft Idaho Ward (Interior & Murals)
Like many chapels of the 1950s, Bancroft had commissioned paintings that were donated by someone in the local area. In this case, Iva Nelson and Moses William Rigby--who lived in Logan--donated these paintings done by Everett Thorpe. (The Rigbys commissioned other paintings done by Thorpe for local chapels in this same time period, including the one in Newton, Utah.)
A print of Salman's Head of Christ, a very popular painting in the post-WWII era, also hangs in the chapel.
The mural on the north side depicts Joseph Smith receiving the plates, as well as pioneers crossing the plains.
On the south side, the mural depicts the Miracle of the Gulls.
Let's hope these paintings stick around for a long time!
Sunday, September 29, 2024
Bancroft Idaho Ward
Located in southeastern Idaho, a bit to the east of Lava Hot Springs, Bancroft isn't a place I was aware of until recently.
The building's pretty typical of an early 1950s floor plan which I have seen repeated lots of times throughout the Mormon corridor, but there are some nice paintings that I visited to document. I'll show them in my next post.
Sunday, September 22, 2024
Salt Lake Temple Renovation Update
We're still about 2 years away from the Salt Lake Temple renovation being completed, and we got another update this weekend that confirmed a few things, for better or for worse.
Of course, Church leaders are trying to balance many different considerations when overseeing new and existing temples, and historic preservation is just one of those factors. This blog, though, focuses on historic architecture, so I'm mostly going to focus on what is being kept and what is not.
What is being preserved:
- Almost all of the second floor of the temple, including the terrestrial room (which will now be a veil room, but will be mostly preserved), the celestial room, the original sealing rooms off of the celestial room (not the one in the east tower, which was a later addition, but the sealing room for the living and the sealing room for the dead),
- The assembly hall on the top two floors of the temple, which includes really beautiful woodwork and spiral staircases,
- The spiral staircases in the four corner towers,
- The temple's stained glass.
One exciting part of the newsroom release (for me) was the first color image I've seen of the memorial window, which is installed on the temple's third floor (where administrative offices are).
- Basically, tne temple's entire basement floor will be new. The creation and garden rooms, as well as the original baptistry, are all being replaced with stationary rooms. Even the grand staircase was removed and is being recreated.
- The world room on the second floor will be replaced with a stationary room, as well.
- The woman at the veil in the celestial room, and presumably the sealing room in the east tower, will be removed.
- The temple's entire third floor (administrative offices) is likely being gutted and redone, and probably reconfigured a bit to better meet modern Church administrative needs.
- Murals, progression, and the live endowment are all being discontinued.