LDS Church Administration Building

Gardens and small outbuildings belonging to Brigham Young once stood on the site of the Administration Building.

Photo courtesy of Kathie and W. Jeffrey Marsh

Tall Greek ionic columns surround the Church Administration Building.
© by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. 

The need for an administrative building larger than the small structure between the Beehive House and the Lion House became obvious as the Church began to expand. This building, just west of the Lion House, was constructed during the administration of President Joseph F. Smith (1901–18). Built in a Greek style with Ionic columns, this structure of granite was completed in 1917. Today it houses the offices of the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve Apostles, and other General Authorities.

Lowering the cornerstone on the Church Administration Building.
Utah State Historical Society 

View of the Administration Building under construction 

Utah State Historical Society 

Quorum of the Twelve
© by Intellectual Reserve, Inc.



The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles often have their official photographs taken in the Onyx Room of the Administration Building.

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

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BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

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Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

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Bonus Video - Eagle Gate Fact

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

All Rights Reserved

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Utah and the Civil War

The Civil War Monument was erected in 1961 to honor the Utah men who served in the Civil War by protecting precious mail and telegraph lines.

In 1857, Congress funded a biweekly mail service between San Francisco and the eastern United States. This was followed by a formal mail route, which facilitated regular contact between Salt Lake City and cities in the East and the West.

Monument honoring Latter-day Saint soldiers who fought in the Civil War 
Photo by Robert L. Hall

The Overland Mail Company became the information lifeline. Without mail delivery to Utah, the LDS Church would have had no contact with missionaries serving abroad. Pioneer converts from overseas would have had to travel from port to Salt Lake City alone, with little assistance from the main body of the Saints.

There would have been no means of communication to forewarn and prepare the Saints to help those in trouble on the westward frontier trails. On October 8, 1861, telegraph lines were finally completed, linking the eastern and western portions of the United States.

Lot Smith led Latter-day Saint soldiers west to protect mail and telegraph lines 
Photo Courtesy Daughters of Utah Pioneers

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

All Rights Reserved

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The Gardo House

Across the street from the Lion House is the site of the Gardo House, another famous home belonging to Brigham Young. It was built as a formal home for receiving visiting dignitaries. It was later sold and became a home to some of Utah’s leading financiers.

Gardo House
Daughters of Utah Pioneers Brigham Young built the Gardo House to receive visiting dignitaries.

Albert P. Rockwood originally owned the property located at 70 East South Temple. He was born on June 5, 1805. After joining the Church, he was called to serve as one of the first seven Presidents of the Seventy. He journeyed to Utah as one of the original pioneers and served as a member of the Utah Legislature since its organization. He died November 29, 1879, at his home in the boundaries of the Sugar House Ward.

Harriett Amelia Folsom Young
Daughters of Utah Pioneers
Brigham Young’s wife, Amelia, shown here later in life, 
was once a hostess for the Gardo House.

In the 1860s, Brigham Young purchased the property from Rockwood. He then commissioned Joseph Ridges, architect and builder of the Mormon Tabernacle Organ, to construct a home more appropriate for the entertainment of visitors and important guests. Brigham’s intention was to build a home that could be used as the residence for the President of the Church. Although President Young passed away before the home was completed, he spent eighty thousand dollars on a structure that his wife Amelia resided in for a few short months. Hence, it became known facetiously as “Amelia’s Palace.” One of Brigham’s daughters said the name Gardo came from a Spanish book that her father enjoyed. Some claimed that the mansion, which was rumored to be haunted, looked like a sentinel “on guard.” Whichever was the case, it was named the Gardo House.

The Neighborhood
Brigham Young University
The Gardo House sat across the street to the south of Brigham Young’s personal properties. 
 It was built to be more luxurious than the Young family homes sitting to the north. 
 The Lion House is seen in this historical photograph on the far left.

Construction on the home was completed on December 27, 1881. After putting an additional twenty-five thousand dollars into finishing and furnishing the mansion, Church President John Taylor moved in. The home contained forty-six rooms, including a basement, 150 windows, root cellar, main level, and two upper floors. The home was designed in intricate detail and was furnished with purchases from ZCMI.

Following the death of John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff used the home as an office and as a place to conduct official Church meetings. Under the Edmunds-Tucker Act, the federal government confiscated the home, forcing President Woodruff to leave, and the Church attempted to rent it out for $450 a month. Due to the inability to find renters, the rent was lowered to $250 a month for the John Keeley Institute, an alcoholism-treatment organization. The group moved into the home on January 4, 1892, but then moved out the following year.

Gardo House Interior
Daughters of Utah Pioneers
The interior of the Gardo House illustrates it magnifi cent decorations and design.

The Gardo House was then rented by two mining millionaires, Alfred W. McCune and Isaac Trumbo. Later, mining magnate Edwin F. Holmes and his wife, Susanna Bransford Holmes, purchased the Gardo House. After the Holmeses decided to move to California, they donated the home to the Red Cross organization. In 1920 the Church again purchased the property and transformed it into the LDS School of Music. The Church sold the property in February 1921 to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The home was torn down in November 1926 to make way for the construction of a bank. In the mid-1980s construction on the Eagle Gate Plaza and Tower began on the site, a twenty-two-story retail and office complex.

INTERESTING FACTS

Church Presidents John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff each lived
in the Gardo House for a short time .

Several Church leaders hid from federal agents in secret rooms in the Gardo House .

High society events were held in the Gardo House, especially during the time
the Holmeses lived in it . 

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

All Rights Reserved

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The Lion House

The Lion House was a home of President Brigham Young, who was often referred to as the Lion of the Lord. This two-story, multi gabled home was built between 1855 and 1856 as an additional residence for President Young and his large family. Brigham Young passed away in a main floor room on August 29, 1877.

Lion House

David M. Whitchurch


The Lion House and early Church office buildings stand immediately east of the Church Administration Building.

President David O. McKay sought to ensure that this historic monument continued to serve as a social center. He assigned the Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association Presidency— Florence S. Jacobsen, Margaret R. Jackson, and Dorothy P. Holt—to renovate the Lion House. Work of research and reconstruction began in the spring of 1967. The Lion House was reopened to the public in August 1968 and has been serving guests and visitors ever since.

Inside the Lion House
Daughters of Utah Pioneers
Young men sat in the front parlor of the Lion House and waited for their dates to come downstairs. The earliest Young Women’s program of the Church was organized here.

This edifice has served a variety of purposes and accommodated an extensive range of activities. Besides being home for President Young and his family, some of the east rooms on the main floor were designated as Church office space years after the house was purchased from the Young family. Throughout that period, numerous local and national dignitaries were entertained in the Lion House. The Lion House is still used as a hospitable community reception center. There is a buffet-style restaurant in the basement.

Sculpted Lion
Kathie and W. Jeffrey Marsh
Guarding the home, the original lion from which the Lion House derives its name was sculpted by William Ward.




Daughters
L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University
Brigham Young’s ten oldest daughters were known affectionally as “The Big Ten.” They formed the original Retrenchment Society.

In 1869, the east-west railroads were joined at Promontory Point, north of Salt Lake City. The coming of the railroad brought with it all the fads and fashions of the world. Some of President Young’s daughters were adopting eastern fashions.

So, on November 28, 1869, seven months after the arrival of the railroad, President Young met with his daughters in the front parlor of the Lion House. “We are about to organize a Retrenchment Association,” he explained to them, “which I want you all to join, and I want you to vote to retrench in your dress, in your tables, in your speech, wherein you have been guilty of silly, extravagant speeches and light-mindedness of thought.  Retrench in everything that is bad and worthless, and improve in everything that is good and beautiful.”

Today that organization has grown into the Young Women program membership numbering hundreds of thousands, whose leaders do their best to instill dignity and high standards in young women throughout the world. Brigham Young once counseled women to “study order and cleanliness in your various occupations. Adorn your city and neighborhood. Make your homes lovely, and adorn your hearts with the grace of God.”

Dinner Bell
David M. Whitchurch


Brigham Young used a bell to summon family members to meals. The bell is now on display in the Lion House and suggests the importance of family cooperation and togetherness around the dinner table.

The hallway on the main level near the front door is where Brigham Young would ring a bell each evening and gather his family to the front parlor for prayer. In addition, Brigham gave his children counsel in this parlor. In the evenings, many socials were held here and young men came to court Brigham’s daughters.

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Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

All Rights Reserved

___________________________________________________________________

Bonus Video: Ensign Peak Facts

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Subscribe to our Free Newsletter 

___________________________________________________________________

Brigham Young University Religious Education presents

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

Featuring BYU Religious Educators teaching about sites significant in

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For more information, or to visit our interactive web site with dozens of additional sites to explore,

please visit VirtualTours.BYU.edu

______________________________________________

Hallowed Ground Sacred Journeys

is a co-production of

BYU Religious Education and Starrs Universal

This blog is a public service of The Watchmen Institute

and is distributed by B.U.M.P. LTD.

All Rights Reserved

___________________________________________________________________