The Endowment House

As you read through the biographies of our ancestors, located under Pages on the right hand side of the blog, you'll notice that a lot of their temple work was done in the Salt Lake Endowment House.

I was curious about this house, where it stood, how long it was in operation, is it still standing, etc. Here's what I found:

From LDSChurchTemples.com:  

• Site Dedication:  April 1854
• Construction Commencement:  Summer of 1854
• Dedication:  5 May 1855 by Heber C. Kimball
• Rededication:  2 October 1856 (baptistry only)

Endowment House Locale:

Once located on the northwest corner of the temple block in Salt Lake City, the Endowment House served as a temporary temple for Church members in Utah Territory from 1855–1889 during construction of the Salt Lake Temple. The two-story adobe structure was razed in 1889, four years prior to the completion of the Salt Lake Temple.

Endowment House Facts:

Prior to the construction of the Endowment House, temple ordinances were being given on a regular basis in Salt Lake beginning in February 1851. This was done in a variety of locations including Brigham Young's office, the Council House, and the top of Ensign Peak.
Recognizing the need for a separate dedicated structure for the administration of the endowment, the Endowment House was built on the northwest corner of Temple Square to function during the construction of the Salt Lake Temple.
At the time of its dedication, President Brigham Young declared that the Endowment House was "The House of the Lord."
The Endowment House was designed by Church architect Truman O. Angell.
The two-story Endowment House featured a washing and anointing room, "garden room," "world room," and "terrestrial room" on the main floor with a "celestial room" on the upper floor.
A year after the Endowment House was constructed, it was enlarged to include a baptistry, which was dedicated on October 2, 1856.
Baptisms for the dead were administered in the Endowment House until 1876. Endowments for the living were performed there until 1884. And sealings of living couples were performed there until 1889.
Endowments for the dead were not performed in the Endowment House (neither were sealings to parents), which were reserved for the temple only.
In 1889, President Wilford Woodruff had the Endowment House razed.


BYU has a page about it HERE
Wikipedia's article about it is HERE