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Meridian
Interviews Nauvoo Temple Architect
Roger
Jackson was the principal in charge of the architectural team for
the Nauvoo Temple, representing FFKR firm from Salt Lake City.
Meridian: We
can't imagine how you begin to draw a plan where you are replicating
a building from the past with standards from the present. How did
you find the information you needed to reconstruct this temple?
Nauvoo home of First Nauvoo Temple architect William Weeks.
Roger Jackson:
We have some drawings from the original architect William Weeks.
With those, and photographs, stone fragments from the temple, the
archaeological report from the 60's and written descriptive accounts
from journals, we tried to piece the picture together. In some of
the fine points, like the shape of a molding or how this piece abutted
to that piece, it wasn't clear from the photographs, so we studied
other buildings of the time and we made up things.
It was like
the principle of revelation discussed in Doctrine & Covenants
9, we studied it
out, struggling and struggling to come up with a solution to the
problem until it felt right. You figure out things on your own and
you ask for help. There are a lot of logs and documents that we
looked at quickly. We didn't grind through every piece of information,
but we feel good that we are 99%.
Meridian: How
many people were working on the architectural drawings?
Roger Jackson:
At one point we had 14 people and probably another 25 engineers.
Meridian:. The
research phase must have been a big part of this. How long did it
take?
Roger Jackson:
We started doing preliminary research in April of 1999. We had been
the architects for the Vernal temple which was an existing building
that we remodeled.
That was much easier because we could go measure the building. By
September of 1999, we were officially brought on as the architectural
firm. There was so much information to sort through that the research
work overlapped the construction document time by several months.
Meridian: How
similar is the interior of the temple to the original one?
Interior detail of Nauvoo Temple.
Copyright 2002 Intellectual Reserve-Used by Permission
Roger Jackson:
Historically it was two large halls similar to the Kirtland temple.
There's some question as to how much was finished. Was just one
floor finished, and if so, which one? Some thought that it might
be the second floor instead of the first floor. In William Week's
drawings are a few that hint at the interior--the molding details,
simple elevations and trim around the windows. We used those details
that we had and built them into the plan, but basically the arrangement
inside is completely different. We tried to think, "If the
Saints back then were building these rooms, how would they have
built them? What would they have looked like? What would the molding
be? What would the trim on the windows be? What would the trim around
the doors be? What would be the proper feel of the character and
of the time? We studied other buildings from the period--primarily
statehouses and New England churches to get the senses of how they
would have built this. We studied the buildings that are here in
Nauvoo. We presumed that many of the buildings would have been done
by the same craftsmen. We studied Kirtland, and we studied the St.
George temple, because many of the same craftsmen could have been
involved on those projects. The endowments were all given in the
attic space in a place with temporary partitions and furnishings
that the Saints brought from their homes. They used the temple as
the major meeting place of the town because there wasn't another
place to meet.
Meridian: In
building something as monumental as this, there must have been miracles
along the way. Did you see them?
Roger Jackson:
We are trained professionally to come up with a lot of ideas, to
bring up alternatives, to look at them critically and weigh them
against each other to decide what is the right solution. And I'm
often thick enough in the head that I don't always know where things
come from, or to say we had a miraculous manifestation from the
Spirit on one day. I never felt that. I know we had guidance from
the Spirit, but it speaks in a still small voice, and it usually
entails a lot of work for us. The challenge was the nature of the
project, and the time constraints we were under, and the primary
sources we had to go from.
Meridian: It
seems you are asked to do a huge job with incomplete research materials
in a short time frame.
Roger Jackson:
For us, it all starts with a line on a paper. The construction team
was brought on board at the same time we were officially brought
on, and they were anxious to get going. They had a charge to build
the temple quickly, and so we had what we call a fast track process
where we prepare bidding and construction documents in packages.
Then the contractor can start on the first group, while we prepare
the documents for the next batch. In this way we stay ahead of the
contractor, sometimes just by the hour so they can start building.
To do this, we had to make some early assumptions, and then we keep
going building on the early assumptions that we make.
Meridian: It
seems that kind of process opens the possibility for change orders
and other challenges.
Roger Jackson:
There was an instance where there was an area that just didn't happen-and
everybody looked at each other and said, "That's what happens
in a fast track job." Some concrete was torn out. Everybody
shrugged and said, "We didn't catch it. We didn't catch it.
We didn't catch it." And that's the fast track process.
Detail of wall of Nauvoo Temple early morning.
Meridian: There
is a story that Joseph Smith looked at William Week's plans for
the temple and said, "Where are the circular windows?"
Apparently Weeks answered that they didn't know how to do circular
windows and support the upper structure. Joseph answered that he
didn't know how to do it either but that is what he'd seen in the
vision, and so they had to do it. Do you see things in this project
that would have been difficult for the pioneers that is now easy?
Roger Jackson:
Not really. I've read that story. I haven't really studied it carefully
so I don't know if it is the round windows in the upper part or
the lower round windows between the tall windows. Stone masonry
can stand up by itself. But the challenge would have been to build
the roof and floor structures that supported that because it is
a long span from wall to wall, but these craftsmen were experienced
timber-framing contractors and they knew how to do this. We have
modern steel reinforced concrete that holds the building up.
Meridian: Is
it surprising to you that this small band of pioneers had an architect
and craftsmen capable of creating the Nauvoo temple?
Roger Jackson:
Not really. The architect was able and capable. He had had some
informal training. Joseph Smith gave the overall image of the building
and William Weeks put it together. The Lord moved in people's lives
to bring craftsmen and tradesmen into the Church who could build
these buildings. There were enough experienced stonemasons, carpenters,
millworkers and painters. Two or three experienced people can train
a lot of people to do the job.
Meridian: What
has it meant to you to be involved in this project?
Roger Jackson:
It's really been a great blessing. My great, great grandfather John
Mills Wooley worked on the building. That may sound like a miraculous
coincidence, but to anybody who is in the Church who had ancestors
in Nauvoo, they worked on the temple, too. How much he did and what
he did, I don't know. We have three small journal entries that said,
"I worked on the temple that summer." But it's been fun
to think that my great grandfather could be watching. I've wondered
what impact my children will get from this. What will they learn
from us? My children are young. The oldest is 13; the youngest is
5. I think perhaps only when they are older will they understand
the impact this project has had in our family.
Nauvoo Temple stands like a beacon on a hill towering over old Nauvoo.
Meridian: Why
does this temple wrench so much at our heartstrings?
Roger Jackson:
We've had the culture in the church of having this temple lost to
us. Every few years in the back of a church magazine, they publish
one of these fuzzy, old daguerreotype images. You see a list of
all the temples, and. And you see Nauvoo which is gone. For President
Hinckley to have the vision to say, "Let's rebuild our temple,"
has really caught the imagination of the Church, because what is
lost is now found. It is a great tribute to our pioneer ancestors
who established through their faith and their efforts the strength
of what the Church is today.
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