trary the interior partakes rather of the nature of Renaissance design.[1]
The Temple was constructed for specific use; it was intended for service widely different from that of cathedral, tabernacle, mosque, or synagogue; and the building was planned and patterned to suit its distinctive purpose. Such was and is the reason for its being, the explanation of its design, both vindication and justification of its plan.
As has been shown, the plans of the building were made known, and a fairly detailed description thereof was published in 1854.[2] A careful examination of the structure as it now appears shows that in every essential particular the original plan of the exterior has been followed almost to exactness. Details of spires, turrets, and finials, had not been determined when the design was first announced; and in these as in certain other particulars the original plan has been added to; but no essential alteration has been introduced.
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
- ↑ Joseph D. C. Young, the architect-in-charge during the later period of construction, wrote as follows in answer to an inquiry of the author in January, 1912: "Questions as to the style of architecture embodied in the great Temple have been asked time and time again. Some prominent architects have classed it as Round Gothic; others have said that it is practically unclassifiable, it being 'all material and not at all design.' In my judgment it might be called the Romanesque modified by the Castellated style."
- ↑ See pages 144–147.
