The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-01-06
HOUSE OF WORSHIP.
An Elegant and Comfortable Struc-
ture i'm the Twentieth Ward.

one OF the pleasing and noticeable
tendencies OF the Mormon church
people in Salt Lake City is the gems
eral betterment of their ward meet
or places of worship.
Every little while it is noted that
this ward or that is building new
chapel, and while all these latter
structures are vast improvements
upon the houses They. supersede,
some of them are stately and costly
sdifices, in the erection of which
attention has been given to archi-
tecturaI beauty, as well as to the
pleasure ard comfort of the people
who are to visit them. There is
none of us so young but we have
distinct recollections of the ordin-
airy ward house, in the construction
of which but one idea appeared TO
prevail. The sole aim seemed
to be protection against the
elements. All that was re-
quired were shade in summer and
a place that could be warmed in
winter. The thought of comfort,
of light and air, of ventilation and
healthfulpeSs, and above all of Or
namentation or beauty, rarely sug-
gested itself, and was more rarely
acted upon. Each ward had its
community hall, where the people
used to meet on Sunday afternoons
and evenings, and pass two or three
mortal hours in bodily pain, how
ever much spiritual consolation the
preachers were able to disseminate;
they would twist about and ache on
hard. awkward forms, which, in the
light of modern seats, one must re-
gard as having been fashioned and
constructed with the view to pun
ishing the sitters; ventilation was
secured only at the risk Of encoun>
tering!cold, raw draughts; the dis
courses, also. frequently ran up to
the ''ferty-secondly," so that alto
gether, as one looks back at the
Sunday worship of fifteen
or twenty years ago in
the ward houses, the service
seems in the nature of penance for
the weeks sinfulness. In the al
most universal poverty of the peo-
pie we can find the chief explana-
ton of those old parallelogram
adobe houses, with rows of little
windows in the sides, low ceilings,
and plain, bare walls: in a lack Of
taste we may find q lesser cause,
and in Puritan sentiment that pro-
claimed against display. if not
against comfort and peace of body
and mind, still another cause.
However, as remarked, change
has come over the people, and while
their tastes have been cultivated
and developed, their purses have
grown more plethoric, so that their
desires may be oftener gratified.
Some of the wards now possess very
creditable houses of worship, and
while the Puritan idea of plainness
still asserts itself, the other old
fashioned notion of discomfort being
essential to religious worship, has
about died away.
In the Twentieth Ward. this
will be dedicated perhaps
the handsomest and altogether best
of the ward houses. 1t is really a
model structure for the purpose.
rejecting credit upon the skill,
taste, generosity and progressive
spirit Of all who have had anything
to do with it, whether mechanically
or financially. Two or three years
ago the Twentieth ward branch of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat
ter-day Saints regularly incOrpor-
ated under the laws of the Terri
tory, and after securing the title to
the real estate comprised in the west
half of what is known as the School
house block, and making other pre-.
arrangements, the directors
last July undertook the erection of
a chapel or place of worship for the
ward. The officers and directors of
the association are as follows:
John Sharp, president;
William G. Dunbar, vice-president
Henry Pvzey, James Sharp, George
Romney, s. p. Teasdel, T. B. Lewis,
David G. Dunbar, G. r. Savage,
George Ottinger, VIM. III. Rowe,
George Reynolds and Levi Richards,
directors.
The church, which has just been
completed and will be dedicated this
morning, is situated on the south
centre of the west half of the block
mentioned, and faces south. 1t is a
one story structure, cut sandstone
foundation and red brick walls, the
only ornamentation being the
beautiful white sandstone water
table, stills and window cap trim
mings. The dimensions are 36x7O
feet, with projecting lobby, or hall
way, eleven feet square, which is
carried to a tower 60 feet high. Ex-
cept in the absence of the orthodox
gothic windows, the building is de-
cidedly churchlike in appearance :,
solidity and regularity marking
every feature, and rather happily
taking the place of the fancy Orna-
mentation that is common in large
structures of this character. But if
the outside is neat and attractive
without ostentation the inside is
doubly so. The interior is one large
room, with 20-foot ceiling the walls
are hard finished, a neat but not sx-
travagant cornice running all the
way around, and four handsome