Downtown Salt Lake and Temple Square.

Today we did a walking tour of downtown Salt Lake City and Temple Square. It was a little cooler this morning so we went early and were headed back to the mothership before the heat ramped up this afternoon. The grounds of the LDS Church at Temple Square are beautiful and worth the walk to see, we also had a tour of the home and office used by Brigham Young when he was both the leader of the church and the territorial Governor.

Temple Square is the home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and the area contains a number of administrative buildings, church historical sites, monuments and the Temple and Tabernacle; the 10 acre grounds are a beautiful site to visit.

 

The LDS Temple.

 

The Eagle Gate at the intersection of Temple and State Streets.

 

We were able to take a tour of the Lion House and Bee-hive House, both houses are connected, the Lion House was the starting point of our tour and now contains a restaurant; the Bee-hive House served as Brigham Young’s residence, office and reception area for visitors. The Lion and Bee-hive Houses were designed by the same architect that designed the Temple; the Bee-hive House features a two-story veranda, an observatory and a cupola topped with a bee-hive but our tour did not dwell on the architectural elements of the house, it featured the rooms, furnishings and how the home was used by Young and his family.

 

The Lion House.

 

The Bee-hive house.

 

Brigham Young’s room.

 

The furnishings were used by Young and his family.

 

 

The Bee-hive detail on a staircase in the Bee-hive House.

 

Children’s play rooms.

 

Formal dining room.

 

After our tour of the houses we continued our walk around the square, unfortunately we were unable to tour the Tabernacle as it was closed for practice and we could hear the organ music from inside. We enjoyed our visit to Temple Square and the grounds.

 

Another view of the Temple.

 

Grounds with LDS World Headquarters in the background.

 

Brigham Young Memorial.

 

Assembly Hall.

 

More of the grounds.

 

 

Log Cabin located outside of  the Museum of Church History.

 

We walked a few blocks to the old Union Railroad Depot and the Gateway which is a large outdoor mall, the Union Depot is an empty building and there was little at the Gateway to interest us so we started our walk back to the CRV. 

 

The Union Pacific Depot.

 

Inside the depot.

 

Mural of Brigham Young declaring “This is the spot”, for their new home.

 

Mural of the golden spike ceremony to complete the transcontinental railroad.

 

Stained-glass windows in the depot.