Ode to the Provo Tabernacle

Growing up we went to the Provo Tabernacle every year for Stake Conference, and even though that meant sitting through a two hour meeting, I was always excited to go.  The Provo Tabernacle is one of the coolest buildings I have ever been in.  I loved the dome ceiling, the stained glass windows, the ornate white doors, the hunter green carpet with cream embellishments, the radiators that were painted white, the unbelievable pipe organ, and the spiral staircases leading up to the U-shaped balcony. We always sat on the same bench; north side of the building, right in the middle, front row.  Sometimes Grandma and Grandpa Lee (in our stake, but not ward) got there first, so they would save the whole bench for my family.  The stairs to get down to the front row of the balcony were really steep, and I always envisioned someone falling down the stairs and tumbling over the railing to the bottom floor below.
Usually the first half of the meeting was spent spying every person we knew, finding friends and giving a not-so-subtle wave until Mom and Dad gave us the eye.  Then the rest of the meeting was spent constantly changing positions so our bums wouldn't go numb on the rock solid wooden benches. Man, they were killer to sit on!
One year I sang in the choir, which meant I sat in the choir seats for the entire meeting.  Another year an old woman, bless her heart, had some health problems and had to be taken out of the building on a stretcher. I remember thinking that it was weird for the paramedics to be in our church meeting dressed like they were and working on a Sunday. Funny, the perspective of a 10 year old. 
I have so many fun memories of my time in the Provo Tabernacle, so you can imagine my sadness when I woke up on December 17th, 2010 to Cory telling me that the Tabernacle was burning down. What?!  That beautiful building went from this:

to this:

in a matter of hours. So sad.

Firefighters found a painting in the rubble that didn't get all the way burned and took it up to the Church Office Building.  My friend's husband is a Provo City firefighter and I asked her if it was for real, and she said yes, that Peter's buddies saw it themselves.  Pretty cool.
This is the original painting, by Harry Anderson:

And here's what it looked like after the fire. Interesting...

A few days after the fire we went down to the Tabernacle to have a look. I wanted to cry looking at the half burned doors, the fallen turrets, and the remnants of the once white radiators.  It was a very sad day for Provo to lose this historic building that the Saints worked so hard to build.  I hope the Church decides to rebuild the Tabernacle, although a decision has yet to be made.
Here are some pictures I took myself:

  Do you see the radiators, now black and charred, in the middle window?

This is the entrance to the spiral staircase on the Southwest corner of the building.

Driving home from the Tabernacle I was feeling a little sentimental, so here are pics of "Y" Mountain and the Provo Library, too. :)