As it stands, the building is one hundred eighty-six feet six inches long, and one hundred eighteen feet six inches wide including ground-level extensions of the corner towers, or ninety-nine feet wide in the main body. The side walls are one hundred sixty-seven feet six inches high; the west center tower has a height of two hundred and four feet, and the corresponding tower at the east rises six feet higher. The entire area covered by the building is twenty-one thousand eight hundred and fifty square feet.
The walls are set upon a massive footing, which extends sixteen feet below ground, is sixteen feet wide at the base, and narrows to nine feet at the top. From the ground-level to the globes surmounting the spires the walls are of granite, every block accurately cut as to dimension and pattern, and fitted with equal nicety outside and inside. The windows, both arched and oval, all deeply set in their granite recesses, are framed with oolite. Throughout the first story the walls are eight feet thick; in the upper structure the thickness is reduced by stages to a minimum of six feet. The buttresses are uniformly one foot thicker than the walls proper.
The building consists of three towers at each end—east and west, and between these extends the main body, suggesting, to the observer at a distance, a vast intermediate nave. In ground-plan the Temple is strikingly symmetrical, each of the central axes being an axis of symmetry. The westerly half is a repetition of the easterly, and the southerly half duplicates the northerly. Lines running north and south through the centre of the three towers at either end are also lines of symmetry, dividing the towers into corresponding parts.
Repetition of parts appears also in vertical section. Thus, above the first belt or string course, that is to say, immediately above the basement or first floor, is the second story, indicated without by a series of high arched windows between the buttresses; above these is a series of elliptical or oval windows. The belt course immediately above these oval openings marks the centre of construction as seen in the vertical section of the main body. The upper half, up to the level of the top belt-course, is in general a repetition of the lower. The roof has so little pitch as to be practically flat, there being a rise of but eight feet from edge to centre. Between the end towers, that is to say in the main body of the building, the walls carry nine buttresses or pilasters on both north and south sides. Each of these pilasters rises above the parapets and battlement walls, and is capped by a granite block three and a half feet square at its base and two and a half feet high. Of these pilaster caps, four on either wall are open and constitute the tops of ventilator shafts which extend to the basement.
Above the roof level rise the upper sections of the towers with their spires and finials. Octagonal turrets occupy the corners of the towers, and each turret is surmounted by a pyramidal monolith, six feet high and three feet in diameter at the base; the apex of this pyramid is cut to represent an acanthus cluster. Each of the six towers is surmounted by a pyramidal spire, which terminates in a spherical capstone. The cut blocks forming the spires are two feet in thickness; the capstones of the four corner towers are three feet in diameter, while those of the two center towers measure eight inches more.
The spherical termination of the east center tower, which is the highest stone in the building, and therefore the capstone proper, supports a statue, the crown of which marks the point of greatest altitude in the entire structure. The figure, which stands twelve and a half feet high, is that of a man in the character of a herald or messenger, blowing a trumpet. In pose and proportion the figure is graceful and gentle, yet virile and strong; the drapings are simple, and leave only feet, arms, neck, and head bare. Around the head is a slender circlet supporting high-power incandescent lamps. The statue is of hammered copper thickly overlaid with gold-leaf. It is the work of C. E. Dallin, Utah-born, and now of more than national fame as a sculptor. The figure is intended to represent Moroni, the Nephite prophet, who died about 421 A.D., and who, as a resurrected being, came in 1823 to the boy-prophet Joseph Smith, and delivered to him the message of the restored Gospel, in accordance with the prediction of the ancient Seer:
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water."[[3]]
As has been described in connection with the ceremonies of the capstone-laying, April 6, 1892, the stone upon which rests the statue is one of the record stones of the Temple.[[4]] Another record stone is to be noted. This lies at the south-east corner of the building immediately beneath the first layer of granite. It is a quartzite block three feet in length and twenty inches in both width and depth. A cavity one square foot in cross-section holds printed books, periodicals, and manuscript records, which were placed therein at the time of laying the first granite course. A slab of quartzite closes the cavity and is cemented in place with due provision against the entrance of moisture.
There are in the walls several series of stones of emblematical design and significance, such as those representing the earth, moon, sun, and stars, and in addition are cloud stones, and stones bearing inscriptions.
The earth-stones are thirty-four in number, eleven on each side and six on each end of the building. They are set on the pedestal course, or first granite course, extending twenty-eight inches above ground. There is one of these stones in each buttress, excepting only the buttresses at the junction of the towers with the main body. These earth-stones constitute the largest cuboidal blocks in the building; each of them measures five feet six inches in height, four feet six inches in width, and one foot eight inches in thickness, and weighs little less than three and one-half tons. Each of these massive blocks is cut to show part of the surface of a sphere, the segment having a diameter of over three feet.