Saints compare their headquarters in Salt Lake City—an imposing complex of buildings set against the Wasatch Mountains—to the Vatican. Brigham Young, who founded Salt Lake City, mandated that streets be numbered according to their distance from the pale neo-Gothic granite temple that stands at the center. Young’s regimented thoroughfares are a hundred and thirty-two feet wide—wide enough to turn around a train of oxen, he decreed—so there is a lot of high-desert sky between buildings. In this setting, the handsome state capitol nearby looks a bit captive.The urban planning part of that is pretty interesting. 132 foot-wide streets are crazy wide. As for the influence of the church on the state, I am sure Utah is a very nice place to live, but I am glad I don't live there.
Temple Square, the ten-acre heart of Mormonism, is a serene enclosure. The Tabernacle, home to the celebrated choir, stands in the middle of the complex, facing the multi-spired Temple. Simplicity is the sensibility at work in this cloister. Although Mormon temples are often impressive pieces of architecture, the icons and crucifixes and frescoes that adorn many Christian churches are notably absent here—as if decoration were an affront to the pragmatism that Mormons pride themselves upon. Even the occasional stained-glass window shies away from depictions of religious passion in favor of geometric patterns. Across North Temple Street is a new conference center, a million two hundred thousand square feet in size—nearly ten times as large as the old Tabernacle—which can seat more than twenty-one thousand people.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Brigham Young As City Planner
From a 2002 Lawrence Wright article in The New Yorker:
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ReplyDeleteOk one thing that I had to say was that with you saying "but I am glad I don't live there" says to me that you hate Mormons/Utahns. To let you know Utah has the lowest crime rate in the US and is the most family oriented state in the US which means things for all ages to do not only adults or kids. If you go to the church in your neighborhood and ask them to leave you alone and not to bother you about joining the church, then they will, unlike some other religions that I know. Besides if you absolutely need something than most people in Utah are willing to help. For example if you need help building a shed than most Mormons/Utahs will help unless they are busy. Before you go around making it known that you hate Mormons/Utahns, you should think about what you are saying and take in info about the place before saying something.
ReplyDeleteI don't hate Mormons or other Utahns (what a weird word), I just don't like all the crazy liquor laws they have (thus the reference to the influence of the church on the state). Plus, I don't want to live in the middle of the desert. I'm also glad I don't live in California, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and several other states. I don't hate all of those people, either.
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