SALT LAKE CITY - A Salt Lake City construction company has disclosed it will be renovating the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
Jacobsen Construction said on its web site that the 137-year-old building on Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City will receive a seismic upgrade, including supplemental framing and reinforcing bars to walls and roof.
The company said general refurbishment of the interior will include remodeling the existing spaces used by the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra.
No details have been released and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declined to comment. It is to announce the work next month at its semiannual general conference next month.
It is not known how long the building will be closed to public or how it will affect the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which rehearses in the building every Thursday and broadcasts from it on Sundays. The choir frequently performs at church's nearby Conference Center.
Construction began on the Tabernacle 17 years after Mormon settlers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Timber was collected from nearby canyons and architects adapted technology used for bridges to build elliptical arches that span the 250-foot length of the Tabernacle without interior supports. Wooden pegs were used instead of nails.
The church's twice-yearly conferences were held in the Tabernacle, which can seat 10,000, until 1999, when they were moved to the new 21,000-seat Conference Center.
The Tabernacle is still used for concerts and smaller meetings.