Did I mention that I'm pretty much the foremost authority on LDS Steeple Rooms?

Cottonwood, Utah: Gothic Arches

Up on the east side of the Salt Lake Valley is this Neogothic mid-twentieth century beauty. One of my favorites, though I don't have any experience in anything like it inside.

There are probably sputnik-style light fixtures and all manner of art-moderne flourishes within its impregnable cinderblock shell.
Wouldn't mind 'guesting' in there.

Holladay, Utah

Here're a couple of golden oldies from around 45th south in Holladay, Utah; relatively 'old' if you live the relatively short-lived and expansionist Mormon culture of Anglo Utah and the American Intermountain West.

 

Odd if you've never seen them or are used to the fiberglass simulacra of the present, but when I was a kid in the sixties and seventies, they were the face of Mormon wardhouses on the march forward into the future.

Boston Temple

Because of a lawsuit filed by neighbors of the temple site, the Boston Massachusetts Temple was dedicated without the planned steeple. President Hinckley remained optimistic and said the temple work would commence with or without a steeple. His optimism was rewarded when the Supreme Court of Massachusetts ruled in favor of the Church the following May. Previously, a judge had ruled that the building's steeple was not a "necessary element of the Mormon religion." Therefore, under the law the building height limit could be enforced. But the Supreme Court overruled the earlier ruling saying, "A rose window at Notre Dame Cathedral, a balcony at St. Peter's Basilica, are judges to decide whether these architectural elements are 'necessary' to the faith served by those buildings?" The judges concluded that, "It is not for judges to determine whether the inclusion of a particular architectural feature is 'necessary' for a particular religion." On September 21, 2001 the steeple with the famous angel Moroni was set in place, completing the temple.

Boston Massachusetts Temple, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 June 2010. Web. 20 June 10.

And what a colonial-style fiberglass steeple it is. So perfectly matched to its base. And...
...just look at that steepleroom! What a grand addition in both form and function! O, the blacked-in faux windows with fiberglass filigree and prairie-style panes ala Frank Lloyd Wright! They match so well with the odd, geometric, step-style massive granite building. Who needs a bell in what is traditionally and functionally a bell tower, anyhow? "Look at us!" says the church, "We make great big, amazingly confused and expensive buildings!"
I'm so glad that the church prevailed in court, spending gobs of money so it could spend some more money on this fine example of usable space.

Inauguration

This is the inaugural post for this blog which features steeples, "steeple rooms", steeple 'spaces', and LDS 'architecture'.
Watch here for more examples and scintillating commentary on these subjects in the future.
I'm pretty much the leading expert on Mormon steeple lore...