Up in flames

My heart aches. I found out last night that a beautiful, historic building in Provo my Provo caught fire and will most likely be demolished. (yes, i refer to provo as 'provo my provo'. it's her pet name) The Provo Tabernacle caught fire and was gutted. It looks unlikely that it can be restored.

In Provo my Provo, the Tabernacle is right in the heart of old town. It wasn't a conscious orbit, but we were always in the vicinity of that building. It sits on a large grassy block of town, with walkways threading through and towering oak trees shading passersby. We had many a peaceful picnic in that building's shadow. Somehow, it was an oasis in the middle of a busy little city. The Tabernacle itself is such a beautiful, unique building. The octagonal towers that flanked each end always reminded me of a princess castle. But we scurried about in it's shadow during most of our time in Provo. Our first apartment together (spencer's & mine) was a little studio apartment just 3 blocks north of that building. Even once we moved across town to the university married apartments, we would go back to old town to spend quality time on the grass & in the shade. We attended many functions at the Tabernacle; church, & musical performances mostly. Spencer worked at the Travelodge across the street, right in the Tabernacle's shadow. Once, when a vocal group performed there, they asked if they could sell their CD's out of the back of their car in the motel parking lot because the Tabernacle didn't have one. Spencer's post at the motel, the front desk, faced the Tabernacle and he said he spent many an hour admiring the architecture of an era long gone.

I guess it's a natural progression of life; things in our past will change, whether by accident or design. It's just sad when it has to happen. When they tore down the building where Spencer & I first met, a little part of me mourned. The building itself wasn't really that spectacular. It was kind of run-down and patchwork at it's best. Like you couldn't get from one end of the building to the other without going outside. A door was forgotten somewhere! (for those of you who know BYU campus, it was the Knight Mangum building. Here's a link to when it was demolished --> So Long) I was crushed when we came back to the States for the summer & went on our semi-regular pilgrimage back to BYU. We drove around the corner, hyping up the kids by reminding them that the next building is where Mommy & Daddy met, and being met by a flat expanse of green grass was like a punch in the stomach. Where the heck did the KMB go?

But anyway, enough rambling & reminiscing; the Provo Tabernacle will be missed, and the view of Old Town Provo my Provo will never be the same. Here are links to news articles about the whole, sad mess.

Fire guts Provo Tabernacle

Historic Provo Tabernacle goes up in flames

And a wonderful, but tragic set of pictures by Eric Torrie cannot be missed.

Fire and Ice



*none of these pics are mine, but found on google images.