Preservation Update: St. George Tabernacle Renovation Continues, Tithing Office Threatened?

Note: Preservation Updates are a regularly occurring series of posts where I round up recent information on historic LDS buildings and their futures. Depending on the age of the post, there may be newer information available. Click here to see all Preservation Updates.

The St. George Tabernacle has been closed for about 9 months, now, and its careful renovation continues. As I noted in the last post about this, there won't be many major visual or aesthetic changes that come to the building as a result of the renovation; its main purpose is to retrofit the tabernacle so that it can continue to serve future generations. The columns will have steel inserted, cracked areas of wood will be repaired, and the roof is being redone. Good article on the renovation can be found here and here.

(Image Source: Church History Museum)

Even better, the Church History Museum has set up an online exhibit that goes through the history of the tabernacle.

This renovation continues an encouraging trend where the Church is carefully and lovingly preserving some of our best tabernacles, including the Ogden Tabernacle (2010), Blanding Tabernacle (2014), Montpelier Tabernacle (2015), and Manti Tabernacle (2015).

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Is the Lakeview Tithing Office in trouble? Maybe; maybe not. Built in 1899, the building (also known as the Bunnell Creamery) was owned by the same organization that owns Bunnell Farms.

The problem is that the Daily Herald is reporting that the Provo City School District purchased 11 acres from Bunnell Farms, to be used for a future elementary school.

The real question is, did the sale include the building? If it did, I'm not very optimistic about the building's future. It all depends on what land was sold. I'm not sure what the boundaries of Bunnell Farms are, but if they're the ones I mapped out below, that's roughly 22 acres--half of what was sold.

Hopefully I can find out more information about this in the future. I really hope this building won't be threatened by this sale.

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The Parowan Tabernacle turned 150 in January. While no longer owned by the Church, it has been carefully preserved by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers organization. I'm glad to see it treated so well! If you're looking for a good article on the anniversary, check one out here.