Rebuild the Provo Tabernacle

A few days ago Provo experienced one of the biggest disasters in its 160-year history when fire severely damaged the Provo Tabernacle. This event requires us to answer two questions.

What does the Provo Tabernacle mean to us?

What do we do now?

A people seeking religious freedom founded Provo. How did that community visually express the linkage of its physical history and the faith that called that history into being? For Provo and Utah Valley it was through the construction of the Provo Tabernacle.

The location of the tabernacle at the very core of the city physically anchors this link of history and faith. Originally the Latter-day Saint ecclessiastical unit known as a "stake" was not simply a grouping of a certain number of congregations, it was a geographical identity. In pioneer Utah this meant valleys. Thus there was a stake in the Salt Lake Valley, a stake in Cache Valley, a stake in Sanpete Valley, a stake in Utah Valley, etc. A tabernacle was the meeting place where the whole valley came together for religious worship, civic celebrations and cultural events. The Provo Tabernacle has never just belonged to Provo; it belongs to the whole valley. And because of the presence of two major universities in the area, whose students experienced the Provo Tabernacle and then moved to other cities after they graduated, the fame and affection for the Provo Tabernacle has spread far beyond Utah Valley.

The Provo Tabernacle is a visual jewel. It reflects an earlier time when architecture was the mother of the arts. Architecture used to be the place where stone cutting, woodworking, stained glass, decorative painting, gold leafing, large paintings, blacksmithing and decorative carving had some of their finest expressions. In contrast, many contemporary architects have largely banished art, ornamentation, and traditional styles from their designs.

Many new buildings, however, have an aesthetic shelf life of about twenty-five years. That is why shopping malls constantly require new facelifts. In contrast, can you imagine redoing the exterior of the Maeser Building or the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in order to make them more visually appealing?

Trendy modernist designs usually date quickly. They simply can't sustain visual interest like architecture that draws on a rich historical tradition. Compare State Street in Orem with Center Street in Provo. Which collection of buildings stir your soul? Which do you think people will care about in a hundred years? These are some of the reasons why the Provo Tabernacle plays such a significant aesthetic role in the community. There simply are very, very few buildings being built like this any more.