Snowy, Quiet Day at the Tabernacle Site

I checked the progress of the foundation work.  It's Christmas Eve Day, so the site was completely quiet.  Snow was falling, but I arrived at the beginning of this beautiful storm.
This is the east face, and it appears the I-beam work through the foundation wall is finished.

I walked to the north to see the foundation progress on this side.  It looks complete, too.

The west side has the same beams, but they are covered with black plastic tarps.

It's harder to get a full view of the south face, but it appears the beams are in place there, also.
If you are observant, you will notice that this was the first picture today.  It got snowier as I walked around. 

I was curious about the doors after my last post, so today I determined to study them.
This is the northeast tower doorway.  If you look carefully, you will see there is actually no door.  

This is the northwest entrance.  Again, what I thought was a door is actually a door jamb.

Same on the southwest entrance.

I went back to an earlier picture I took this morning to see the southeast entrance, and again, this is a door jamb.  Certainly at this point I can safely assume these jambs will be preserved for the temple.
Notice the foundation work on the south side.

I've mentioned before that pictures can be deceptive, but the original stone and brick foundation is being completely removed and the walls supported with I-beams.

This is a view of the west side looking north to Center Street.
Notice that the west side elevation has been cut away.

This is a view of the east face from the southeast which shows the retaining wall between the tabernacle and University Avenue, with the same lower elevation.

This is a view of the north lot from University Avenue.  It has the same elevation as the west and east sides.

This retaining wall on the northwest edge of the property, between the tabernacle lot and the Nu Skin property, also has a retaining wall.  I believe underground parking will be built here.

This depressed area had not caught my attention before.  I believe the original baptistery was recovered after its excavation.  Pictures from this article confirm this.

Exploring the West Side on a Beautiful Day

Today two tourists from Massachusetts asked me about the Nu Skin parking garage.  They wondered if we could get there to take pictures.  It was a brilliant idea, resulting in some great pictures of the west side. The tourists get credit and thanks from me.

This is the view of the south face from the west.  I have taken a lot of pictures of the southeast tower from a spot near the light post in the center of the picture.  That intersection is University Avenue, which goes north and south, and 100 South, which is now permanently interrupted at the temple site.

A view of the north face from the west.  The area in the left lower corner of this picture will ultimately be underground parking for temple patrons and Nu Skin employees.

This is a detail of the upper west window.

This is a view of the west entrance, which has now been covered with gunite on the interior.  Notice the foundation is being removed and the building supported with I-beams.

This is a close-up of an upper window on the west side.

This is a view through that window of the northeast tower interior.

Still from the west, this is the northwest tower doorway.

Interior beam work is easily visible in this close-up.

This is a view through the northwest tower of an interior I-beam brace.

The window I was peeking through with my telescope lens is just to the left of the light.  That same beam is on the right wall in this picture.  The photo was taken from the eastern entrance.

Sometimes I try to get creative with my camera.  I thought this was an interesting picture of an original door still remaining in the southwest tower.  I believe an original door still hangs in the northeast tower, also.

Still from the west, this is a view to the north east.  The intersection of University Avenue and Center Street can be seen.  Notice the tower caps at the northeast corner of the temple site.

I was standing at the northeast corner when I took this picture.  The day was bright and beautiful after several days of snowy weather.  Of course, the 21 degree temperature was invigorating.

This is a view from the light pole at the southeast corner.  Notice the tower caps at the north end of the temple site.  Also notice what appears to be a retaining wall between the east side of the tabernacle and University Avenue.

Two men worked in these low temperatures to build the retaining wall.

The snow made peering under the foundation easier.

This is a view of the court house, east across the University Avenue from the tabernacle.  

Demolition work continues on the north foundation.

A small track hoe busily worked to pull chunks of brick away to make room for I-beam supports.

The two tourists and I walked along Center Street, just north of the temple site, to get to the Nu Skin parking garage.  A blue awning barely on the right of this photo is where we we were heading, but our route was not direct at all. 

Construction on the Nu Skin is extensive.  This is a view of their new building from Center Street.

After walking completely around the block, I was able to take this picture of the back of the new building.

This is a view looking east down 100 South.  Nu Skin is to the left.
The tabernacle is almost in the center of this picture.

This is Provo's main Post Office on 100 South.  There is a lot of speculation about what will happen to this property.  Today, however, it was busy with customers who politely did not hit me as I stood in the road.

This is the view of the Nu Skin's parking garage from the post office.  The LDS Church has purchased the garage and will ultimately remove it.  However, it is currently being used by Nu Skin employees.

I was actually excited to see this view of the west side of the tabernacle and take the pictures I used at the beginning of this post.

As I walked back to my car, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this snow-topped statue.

This was a beautiful day to visit the new temple site.

Still Removing the Foundation

While the crane works above, the demolishing of the foundation continues.

This view of the northeast tower shows the excavation of the adjacent faces.

A closeup through the doorway of the northeast tower.

It's becoming easier to see through the foundation on the east side.

I have tried to guess how deep the track hoe has dug on the east side.  Today I'm saying more than five feet, less than ten.  The workman was welding.  My engineering expert has guessed that the vertical I-beams were driven into the ground by the pile driver.  I don't want this to be a fence which could block my view, but maybe it's the foundation for a future fence.

A pile driver and a drill rig worked on the north side today.

Water from the recent snow has made the north lot muddy.

I could not get good pictures of the west side, but a track hoe worked there today.  A crane parked on the west worked on the Nu-Skin construction.

The pile driver works near open holes through the foundation on the north.

It's almost deceptive, but look carefully to see the foundation has been removed here.

Work continues on the south side, too.  Notice the work the track hoe has done on the ground level on the east face, shown in this picture on the right.

I took a spotter with me today to watch for trucks.  The nice viewing area on the south was been covered, but his dad lifted him up for a good look.

This was my spotter's view.  The track hoe is working on the west side, presumably digging out that side to match the east.

The southeast corner from the south.

Notice the low level of dirt on the east side.  The four tower caps are in the northeast corner of the lot.

It appears the towers will be covered for the winter.