No decision has been made on whether to reconfigure the Tabernacle's seating, he said. Though the wooden benches were adequate for pioneer Latter-day Saints of smaller stature, today's audiences frequently comment on the lack of leg room. The Tabernacle seats about 4,500, he said, noting possible changes could eliminate as many as 1,000 seats.

Builders anticipate the famed Tabernacle organ will remain in place during the project, but "some of that will be determined when we decide what we have to do with the ceiling." Architects were charged with improving the building's acoustics, he said, adding, the sound "better be better after this than it was before."

The structural integrity of the building "is, in some instances, lacking," and the roof is not securely fastened to the high masonry walls. The wooden latticework that forms the Tabernacle's hallmark oval dome will remain intact, he said, though reinforcement will be added and to the Tabernacle pillars as necessary.

The building's foundation will also be strengthened to withstand ground movement during an earthquake, he said, without giving specific details of how it would be accomplished, and the balcony will also need reinforcing. "That's the most important aspect of what we're doing."

The pioneer plaster used to roof the interior was originally mixed with horse and cattle hair to give it additional strength, and will be retained, he said, as will the wooden pegs and rawhide straps that hold the lattice framework of the ceiling together.

At present, there are no estimates of what the retrofit will cost, Bishop Burton said. "In these kinds of projects, you're never sure what you will find or what you will have to do. It will be fairly expensive."

Once the retrofit is completed, the building will remain "an ecclesiastical venue," hosting multistake conferences of local Latter-day Saints as well as artistic performances.

Richard E. Turley, managing director of the church's Family and Church History Department, said construction on the Tabernacle began in 1863, and in October 1867 the partially finished structure first housed the faith's semiannual general conference.

President Brigham Young, who led the LDS migration west in 1846-47, was the one to oversee the original building's design, Turley said, but no architectural drawings of the building are known to exist.

Its signature style has attracted worldwide attention. Master architect Frank Lloyd Wright once called it "one of the architectural masterpieces of the country and perhaps the world." Along with Temple Square, the Tabernacle has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

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