The Salt Lake Temple is the supreme architectural icon of the Restoration, a stone fortress that took 40 years to complete. We know the dates (1853–1893) and the legends (buried foundations, granite hauled by oxen), but we rarely ask the human questions: Who actually cut the stone? How did they interpret Brigham Young’s visionary but vague instructions? And is it true that the temple was almost built out of mud? In a fascinating new interview over at the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, historian Scott D. Marianno peels back the layers of mythology to reveal the sweaty, logistical, and often frustrating reality of the Salt Lake City Temple’s construction, offering a vivid portrait of the specific men—from burned-out architects to debt-paying immigrants—who raised the spires.

Who Built the Salt Lake Temple?

The Temple That Almost Wasn’t Quartz Monzonite Granite

One of the most startling revelations in the interview is just how close the Salt Lake Temple came to being an adobe structure. Marianno explains that Brigham Young, ever the pragmatist, initially favored thick adobe walls, operating under a folk belief that adobe bricks would eventually “petrify” and turn to stone.

Brigham Young favored thick adobe walls… [He] believed that adobe would strengthen over time and turn into stone. He initially won out, but it became clear to Truman O. Angell that adobe would not support the massive structure they intended to build.

It was Angell, the Church Architect, who had to convince the prophet that physics wouldn’t cooperate. The switch to granite wasn’t just an aesthetic upgrade; it was an engineering necessity that complicated everything, forcing Angell to redesign the exterior ornamentation because granite is so much harder to carve than softer stone.

(As a side note, Jonathan Stapley recently pointed out on Facebook that the building material is technically quartz monzonite, which is a coarse-grained, intrusive igneous rock, similar to granite but with less quartz (5-20%) and roughly equal amounts of plagioclase and orthoclase feldspars. However, as Stapley noted, it’s a somewhat ineligant name and an obscure term if you’re not a geologist, so it’s close enough to just call it granite. But now that he said that, my compulsive fact-checking urge means I have to leave notes like this whenever it comes up.)

The Architect’s Burden

The interview also reframes our understanding of Truman O. Angell. We often imagine the temple architect as a figure of serene inspiration, but Marianno describes a man who felt “underappreciated and overworked.” The dynamic between prophet and architect was one of constant negotiation.

Brigham Young drew upon a slate in the architect’s office a sketch, and said to Truman O. Angell: “There, Truman, is a general idea of the Temple I wish built.”

Angell was left to turn that rough slate sketch into a structural reality, all while battling health issues. Marianno shares a poignant detail: in 1856, a worried Brigham Young sent Angell to Europe for a “vacation” to study architecture, which would later influence Angell’s designs for Temple Square as a whole.

The “Expediency” of Labor

Finally, Marianno challenges the monolithic image of the “pioneer builder.” The labor force wasn’t just a generic group of bearded settlers; it was often composed of young, single European immigrants working off their travel debts.

Some of the workers in the quarry were young, single Latter-day Saint men from Western Europe who hoped to use their wages to repay their debts to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund.

Furthermore, the 40-year timeline wasn’t just due to persecution. It was often a matter of Church priorities. Brigham Young governed by “expediency,” frequently pulling crews off the temple to build immediate necessities like the Social Hall, the Salt Lake Theatre, and the Tabernacle. The temple was the eternal priority, but the physical kingdom had to function in the meantime.

For more on the “constant labor shortage,” the specific tools used in the quarries, and the forgotten assistant architects like William Folsom, head on over to the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, to read the full interview about Who Built the Salt Lake Temple with Scott Marianno.

While you’re there, check out the new Gérald Caussé quotes page!