Civil Engineering Landmark

The marker honors the building beside the Temple, not the Temple itself: the Salt Lake Tabernacle, which in 1971 became the first structure in the country named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Henry Grow designed its vast domed roof — a 150-foot clear span with no interior columns — as a lattice of timber arches pinned with wooden dowels and lashed with green rawhide that tightened as it dried. Metal couldn't reach Utah until the railroad arrived in 1869. The pioneers simply built without it.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Temple Square — steps away
  The spiritual and architectural heart of Salt Lake City
• Salt Lake City — steps away
  Utah's capital and largest city — where the Wasatch Range meets the Great Salt Lake.
• Ensign Peak — 1.4 mi
  A short hike to the spot where Brigham Young surveyed the valley
• Liberty Park — 2.0 mi
  Salt Lake Citys beloved 80-acre urban park since 1882

More markers nearby

• Nauvoo Bell Tower & Relief Society Memorial — steps away
• Assembly Hall — steps away
• The Law, Government, Liberty and The Way — steps away
• Sea Gull Monument — steps away