Salt Lake Tabernacle

Henry Grow, an LDS civil engineer oversaw the initial construction of the Tabernacle, the domed roof being the most innovative portion of the building.

The organ in the Tabernacle has the pipes positioned behind the pulpit, and is a very visible and notable part of the Tabernacle. The original organ was made by Joseph H. Ridges and contained 700 pipes. The number of pipes has since been increased to 11,623, making the Tabernacle organ one of the largest pipe organs in the world. The current organ is largely the work of G. Donald Harrison of the former Aeolian-Skinner organ firm, and was completed in the late 1940s. The organ has undergone a few minor modifications since that time.

The domed ceiling with the original candle light fixtures that have been retrofitted with electricity

The original benches and columns supporting the balcony were made from the native "white pine" (Engelmann Spruce) that the Latter-day Saint pioneers found in the area

Balcony Front

Construction of the Tabernacle began on July 26, 1864, but construction of the roof did not begin until 1865 when all 44 supporting sandstone piers designed by William H. Folsom were in place. Grow rapidly built the roof structure from the center out, but encountered difficulty engineering the semicircular ends of the roof

When Young asked Grow how large a roof he could construct using the style of lattice that he had used on the Remington bridge, Grow replied that it could be "100 feet wide and as long as is wanted." Eventually, Grow engineered the Tabernacle roof to be 150 feet across and 250 feet long.

Skeptics insisted that when the interior scaffolding was removed, the whole roof would collapse. The roof structure was nine feet thick, formed by a "Remington lattice truss" of timbers pinned together with wooden pegs.

Green rawhide was wrapped around the timbers so that when the rawhide dried it tightened its grip on the pegs

How the truses for the roof was assembled

Built at a time before electronics and audio amplifiers, the Tabernacle was constructed with remarkable acoustic qualities so the entire congregation could hear sermons given there, mainly for General Conference.

Part of the balcony ceiling

The Tabernacle was used for a 130 years before 2004. The Tabernacle was closed from January 2005 to March 2007 for seismic retrofitting and extensive renovations. The baptistry, which was located in the lower portion at the rear of the Tabernacle, was removed as part of the renovation. New gold leafing was applied to the visible organ pipes, the ceiling was repaired and repainted, new dressing rooms and a music library for chior members were created, the rostrum was remodeled to accomodate a secondary seating arrangement or a stage for performances, and all plumbing as replaced. The historic building was reopened in March 2007, and rededicated for use on March 31, 2007.

I found this picture in the Mormon Museum, so I I shot it, thought it was an interesting photo