The Brigham Young Domicile, Salt Lake City, Utah Author(S): Rickey Lynn Hendricks Source: the Public Historian, Vol
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Landmark Architecture for a Polygamous Family: The Brigham Young Domicile, Salt Lake City, Utah Author(s): Rickey Lynn Hendricks Source: The Public Historian, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Winter, 1989), pp. 25-47 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the National Council on Public History Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3378476 . Accessed: 17/12/2013 13:24 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of California Press and National Council on Public History are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Public Historian. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.170.195.144 on Tue, 17 Dec 2013 13:24:29 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Research LandmarkArchitecture for a PolygamousFamily: The BrighamYoung Domicile, Salt Lake City,Utah RICKEY LYNN HENDRICKS REGISTERED AS A NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK by the National Park Service in 1964, the nineteenth-centurydomicile of BrighamYoung in Salt Lake City, Utah, east ofTemple Square, was poorlydocumented in the publicrecord. The BrighamYoung house and officecomplex contains the Lion House and the Beehive House, connectedby Young'soffices, in a U-shaped configuration.The Beehive House and officeswere not in- cluded in the firstlandmark boundary. The Lion House was registered underthe theme"Politics and MilitaryAffairs: Manifest Destiny," for its associationwith Brigham Young as governorof Utah Territory.National Park Service recognitionof the Lion House only in regardto national politicsand westwardexpansion conformed to the "consensusmodel" of Americanhistory dominant in the 1950s.' Consensushistorians tend to ThomasR. Carterof the Utah State HistoricalSociety gave invaluableassistance on this project.Not onlydid his dissertationon Mormonarchitecture in the SanpeteValley give me insightinto the relationshipbetween religion and Mormoncommunity-building, but he first introducedme to the "architectureof polygamy" and the networkof researchers interested in the Young household. The workof JeffreyO. Johnsonof the Utah State Archiveson Young's wives and familyorganization and Paul L. Andersonof the Museum of Church Historyand Arton the architectureof the Younghouses was criticalto myunderstanding of thehousehold. W. RandallDixon ofthe HistoricalDepartment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints was extremelyhelpful in showingme the buildings,introducing me to Bernice Casper and otherswho knew much of the historyof the houses, and leading me throughthe researchmaterial and photographsof the LDS ChurchArchives. 1. Barry Mackintosh,The Historic Sites Survey and National Historic Landmarks Program-A History(Washington, D.C.: Departmentof the Interior,National Park Ser- 25 The PublicHistorian, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Winter1989) ? 1989by the Regentsof the Universityof California This content downloaded from 129.170.195.144 on Tue, 17 Dec 2013 13:24:29 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 26 * THE PUBLIC HISTORIAN argue thatcultural homogeneity and a commonpolitical and economic ideologyare intrinsicto nationaldevelopment. Facile use ofthis model in government-sponsoredhistory has perpetuatedcultural, ethnic, and gen- derbiases. The resulthas been omissionof large and vitalsegments of the nation'spast from the historic preservation agenda. Excessive focus on the politicallife of prominent white males such as BrighamYoung has paral- leled neglectof the socialmovements, women and thefamily, and ethnic and culturalminorities emphasized in academic scholarshipsince the New Leftmovement of the 1960s. The BrighamYoung complex has nationalhistoric significance because it standsas the materialexpression of a unique mid-nineteenth-century utopiancommunity. Viewed in this broadercontext, it reveals much about the socialbehavior and beliefsystem of that community. Brigham Youngand his architectTruman O. Angelldesigned the building complex to accommodateYoung's polygamous Mormon family and to integratehis privateand officialaffairs in a singleorganic household. It was a prototype forthe utopiansocial systemthat Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) leaders conceivedfor a larger"City of Zion" in accordancewith the doctrineof polygamy.Yet previoushistorians have notdocumented the landmark's importance as themost highly visible and elaboratelyconceived polygamous architecture in the UnitedStates. The followingstudy makes the case forexpanding the landmarkboundary to includeall ofthe extantbuildings in the complex,and providesevidence ofthe landmark'sbroader architectural and socio-ideologicalsignificance forthe public record. Another version of this study by theauthor was the basisfor the boundary expansion proposed by the National Park Service to theNational Advisory Council on HistoricPreservation in 1988. Like othermillenarian groups in Jacksonianand pre-CivilWar America who soughtliterally to "reform"a disintegratingsocial and moralorder, the Latter-daySaints attempted to create a new model of earthlyexis- tence. Lawrence Foster, who examinessexual patternsin the Oneida, Shaker,and Mormoncommunities as theyreflect religious doctrine, iden- tifiescertain common characteristics of these groups. All threedepended on "a similartype of personal,charismatic leadership" and interpreted theirexperiences as having"cosmic importance." The followersin each grouphad an Anglo-Americanethnic base. Most,like the Mormons, emi- vice, HistoryDivision, 1985), 38-62, givesan overviewof the fragmentedevolution of the NationalHistoric Landmarks Program. National Park Service historians at the policylevel are recognizingthe importance of cultural pluralism in Americanhistory. In a recentpublica- tion,History and Prehistoryin theNational Park Systemand theNational Historic Land- marksProgram (Washington, D.C.: HistoryDivision, NationalPark Service, 1987), the BrighamYoung House (Lion House) is listedunder "Political and MilitaryAffairs: Manifest Destiny"(III-11), but also under "AmericanWays of Life: EthnicCommunities"(III-64). Ironically,however, it is not included under "Social and HumanitarianMovements: Communitarianismand Utopianism,"even thoughthe Nauvoo HistoricDistrict, Shaker, Oneida, BrookFarm, and otherUtopian structures and sitesare classifiedunder this head- ing(111-65). This content downloaded from 129.170.195.144 on Tue, 17 Dec 2013 13:24:29 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LANDMARK ARCHITECTURE * 27 wil9 Mop?,I ....*;.. r.?r BrighamYoung and his "senior wife" Mary Ann Angell with theirchildren in Nauvoo, Illinois.(Utah State HistoricalSociety Photographic Collection) gratedwestward from New Englandor westernNew York,a region"expe- riencingrapid economic growthand unstable social conditions"in the 1830s and 1840s. All three groupswere foundedon a restructuringof familyand maritallife. "They all were convinced,"Foster argues,"that the old order was radicallydiseased and corrupt,tottering inevitably towarddestruction-'the end ofthe world,'in theirterms. Rejecting the wickedworld, these groupsinstead set up theirown religiouscommuni- ties,based on theirown conceptionsof the ideal or heavenlymodel. "2 The Mormonswere mostsuccessful in termsof numberof converts,cultural cohesion,and longevityin creatinga "new order"based on communi- tarianprinciples including polygamy. Early Latter-daySaints leader JosephSmith issued his "revelation"in 1843 that the doctrineof polygamywas ordainedto him by God. The doctrinewas not officiallyproclaimed, however, until 1852 at a special churchconference after the finalMormon migration to Utah. Geographic isolationand fluidsocial boundarieson the Americanfrontier meant that this formof familystructure had over a decade of incubationbefore it came undera fullattack by thefederal government. The attackbegan with the MorrillAnti-Bigamy Act of 1862, and intensifiedwith the shiftof 2. LawrenceFoster, Religion and Sexuality:Three American Communal Experiments of theNineteenth Century (New York:Oxford University Press, 1981), 5-6. This content downloaded from 129.170.195.144 on Tue, 17 Dec 2013 13:24:29 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 28 * THE PUBLIC HISTORIAN federalattention to the West afterthe Civil War. The doctrinewas main- tainedby the LDS Churchuntil 1890. The Mormonleadership finally capitulatedwhen the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887, imposing harsh penal- tiesfor polygamy and "unlawfulcohabitation" was ruledconstitutional by theSupreme Court.3 Prior to this,LDS leadershad resistedlegal prosecu- tionand enduredsocial discriminationfor almost five decades, claiming thatpolygamy had Biblicalprecedent and divinesanction. Procreationand "progressiontoward full godhood" were the dual ratio- nale forthe practiceof polygamy.Mormons believed that restoration of thepatriarchal authority granted by God to theancient Hebrew prophets would restorethe propersocial orderand fulfillGod's promiseto Abra- ham thathis seed would be as plentifulas the sand ofthe seashore.The purposeof marriagewas the increaseof "righteousprogeny" among the Mormonpatriarchs. Church-sanctioned marriages of these men "for eter-