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Show NPS Form 10-900-a Utah WordPerfect 5.1 Format (Revised Feb. 1993) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section NO. 8 Page 4 West Jordan Meetinghouse, West Jordan, Salt Lake County, UT The architectural detailing of this building is a good example of the Classical design that dominated Utah architecture from the pioneer period into the 1880s. Geometrical composition and symmetrical balance were the hallmarks of Classical design and the principal facades normally placed in the long side of the rectangular block. The notable exception, however, was the temple-form type with its main entrance on the narrow side, usually below the gable. The West Jordan Meetinghouse is a good example of this temple-form plan. Its stone construction with granite quoins and lintels and implied cornice return are distinctive decorative features and contribute to the architectural qualities of the building. Historic Context: Mormon Meetinghouses and Tabernacles in Utah, 1847-1936 7 The history of Utah is closely tied to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. More commonly known as Mormons, members of the church played a significant role in the early settlement and subsequent growth of the state of Utah. It is not surprising therefore that the religious buildings of the Mormons comprise one of the principal segments of the state's architectural heritage. Within the larger theme of Mormon religious architecture, eight specific historic contexts have been identified [See the Multiple Property Submission, Mormon Church Buildings in Utah, 1847-19361. The West Jordan Meetinghouse is significant within one of these contexts, "Mormon Meetinghouses and Tabernacles, 1847-1936". The most common types of nineteenth-century Mormon religious buildings were the meetinghouses and tabernacles. Designed as assembly halls for regular Sunday services, these buildings differed principally in size and scale. Tabernacles were typically large buildings with a seating capacity sufficient to accommodate the membership of several IDS wards, with wards being the smallest unit of ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the IDS Church. Smaller Mormon towns consisted of a single ward, while the larger communities were subdivided into several such districts. Every ward had a meetinghouse, or ward meetinghouse. Wards were further organized into larger geographical groupings called stakes, and usually (though not always (each stake had its own tabernacle. Tabernacles and meetinghouses were generally placed in a central location within the gridiron plan of the Mormon town. There are approximately 20 tabernacles and 237 meetinghouses remaining in Utah that were constructed prior to 1940. 8 Tabernacle and meetinghouse design went through five significant periods of historical development. The first period is associated with the early years of Mormon western settlement and begins with the arrival of the Saints in the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and extends until around 1870. Settlement period religious buildings were often constructed using readily available materials such as log, adobe, and stone. They were rectangular in plan and generally exhibited a minimum of architectural detail. The typical meetinghouse or tabernacle was a rather plain gable-roofed structure with the entrance in the 7 National Register of Historic Places nomination, Multiple Property Listing, Mormon Church Buildings in Utah, 1847-1936, 1988. 8 See Alien D. Roberts, "A Survey of IDS Architecture in Utah, 1847-1930", unpublished manuscript, Utah State Historical Society, 1974. X See continuation sheet |
