The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-21
A GRAND AFFAIR.

Invitations are out for a grand BAN
quet to be held at the reanodelled Og-
den tabernacle Tuesday evening, Sept.
8, TO mark the completion and opening
of that building. Fol the purposes of
the banquet the auditorium will only
accommodate about go persons, and
hence the committee, much to its re-
greet, was limited to about that number
of invitations. The special guests of
the evening are Governor H. M. Wells,
Chief Justice Zane, President MILFORD
Woodruff, President George Q. Cannon,
President Joseph T. Smith, the quorum
of the twelve apostles, Bishop William
B. Preston and Others. The programme
hes not yet been completed, but will
embrace toaSts from Il number of Utah
orators and choice musical selections.
A request has been forwarded to Will
lam Mckinley and to William j. Bryan,
asking each to send a response to the
toast The Nation, The State, The
Home" and it is expected that each
will respond. The gentlemen in charge
Of the affair are working hard to make
1t a success and they will no doubt be
successful in making it the grandest
social event of the season.
The budding itself which is now al
most completed and will be finished
before the date set for the banquet, is
simply a reconstruction OF the old tab
ernacle building. No ONE could have
believed, utter looking at the old struc-
ture, that 1T could have been remodelled
so successfully as lit has, for no one
could see IN the present building any
resem blance to the old except in its
general shape When completed the
ciJ x1-aIU
of stone work, worked into columns,
pillars, arches and massive caps, with
towers and other ornaments, the
whole so arranged as to give a beauti-
full effect The windows are in many
artistic shapes, which add much to the
beauty of the building.
But the inside is where the chief
beauty lies The floor. from near the
center of the auditorium to the rear
Coward the front of the building)
slopes upward so as to gradually ele-
vatefhe seats in the rear, giving those
| in the farther end of the building as
good a. view as those who sit closer to
| the pulpit The sides are wainscoated
| to a height of three feet from the
| floor, and from this wainscoating
springs the grand arch which forms
/ the dome like ceiling of the auditorium.
This dome is traversed by great pro-
| iecting arches, which stretch from side
| to side and give to the room nagnifi-
cent appearance. AT the farther end,
are series of raised platforms. the
topmost one being for the use of the
! choir, it seating nearly 200 persons,
the size of the regular tabernacle choir.
! On this platform, and fitting in an
! alcove in the wall, is the pipe organ.
The lower platforms are for the use of
the church dignitaries, and for sacra-
| mental uses, and on the middle one is
the speakers platform, where stands
| the pedestal and pulpit.
! The Getting, walls and arches, are in
hand finished plaster and stucco work,
orramented with beautiful and intri-
cate stucco pieces, showing the master
| hand ait modelling. Looking down the
| length of the building from the rear, a
| most beautiful sight presents itself to
| the eye the arches, ceiling and walls
| of pure white drawing away into a
perspective which is as regular and as
even as if il were a painting.
! There are five windows over the
front entrance and five doors for in
! gress. In the center of the building
on either side, north and south, are
| doors that enter in vestibules five feet
by nine, lighted by other windows, thus
making seven exits, by which the house
may be emptied in very quick time,
and furnishing a comfortable place in
winter where those who come late may