One of city's most unique work sites includes a Mormon
couple from Utah that gives tours — and cookies to union workers. Completion of
massive temple 'on schedule' for 2016.
It's been two years since ground was broken in Center City
on a massive Mormon temple and visitors' center, and it might just be the most
unique construction site the city’s ever known.
Let’s just say the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day
Saints (LDS) goes by its own rules — not those typically found in local union
handbooks. And it makes sure those rules are enforced.
No smoking. No coffee. No swearing.
Praying optional — but encouraged.
To the union workers toiling away on-site, the 60,000 square
foot project is vastly different from any they've undertaken before.
At the time of the ground-breaking, Mayor Michael Nutter
hailed the project at 18th and Vine Streets for its projected infusion of
millions of dollars into the local economy, as well as the 300 construction
jobs it would create.
Church officials contend the worship site is much-needed to
serve the Philadelphia area’s estimated 3,500 parishioners. The closest area
temples are in Manhattan and just outside of Washington, D.C.
“That, while seemingly in distance isn't very far in time to
get there, in commitment and so forth, it becomes a struggle for families,”
said Elder Robert Smith, the highest-ranking church official in northeastern
North America. “So Philadelphia was chosen as a natural place to have us build
a temple, and we are excited about it.”
He said after the temple plans were announced in 2008, it
took church officials between six and eight months to find the right property
to build on. They then went forward with the purchase and planning of the
project.
“We have found that the city council, the planning
department, the Logan Square Association and the surrounding neighbors have all
been very supportive about it,” Smith said, noting Nutter has also been a
strong champion. “It's been a great experience, and I think everyone feels like
the addition of this building in the city will add to the value of the city in
terms of beauty and architecture, and will be a beautiful piece of land when
it's finally finished.”
Though Philadelphia has plenty of experience handling large
construction projects, when it comes to building sacred spaces, local building
officials must bow to church leadership headquartered in Salt Lake City. The
international LDS temple department is responsible for both commissioning and
funding the project, as well as drawing up contractor agreements that contain
some unusual requirements.
"There's no smoking or coffee drinking, and, obviously,
no booze or anything like that on the site, at all," said Pat Gillespie,
business representative for the Philadelphia Building Trades Council.
Workers must go to a break area across the street if they
want a fix of caffeine or nicotine.
“The reason is because it's holy ground,” said Steffanie
Anderson, assistant regional director of LDS public affairs. “We dedicated it a
couple years ago.”
Smith said the church considers the rising temple “a sacred
edifice” being built on a site consecrated for its use.
“We had a ground-breaking and a special prayer that made that
happen, and we believe that we need to treat it with the same respect we would
with one of our churches,” he said. “And so we've asked our contractors to
follow similar things as we expect on all of our private property.”
The temple’s building contracts also give hiring preference
to union-affiliated Mormon workers in the Philadelphia region. But none could
be found, aside from one carpenter who may join the team when his skills are
needed during the project’s later stages.
As is custom for LDS temple construction, each meeting with
foremen and project managers at the Philadelphia site begins with a review of
the day's assignments and prayer — all under the watchful eyes of
specially-appointed temple minders, who are always on-site to keep vigil over the
proceedings.
"They're very precise and attentive to the
process," Gillespie said, though he asserted any kind of prayer sessions
are purely optional.
Brother and Sister Carr’s ‘cookies!’
Alex and Pamela Carr moved from Utah and will remain in
Philadelphia until the temple’s construction is complete. Alex, with his plaid
shirt and rolled-up sleeves, shock of white hair and piercing blue eyes, draws
more than a passing resemblance to Paul Newman. When speaking, he easily lapses
into folksy sermons, moving from pleasantries to parables and back again. He
can rattle off at length endless facts about the tenets and customs of his
faith — and bake a mean cookie.
“Every Wednesday, he and his wife bake 100 cookies —
homemade cookies — and they deliver them to the construction workers,” said
Corinne Dougherty, LDS director of public affairs for the Philadelphia region.
“The construction workers say, 'It's cookie Wednesday! It's cookie Wednesday!' They
love it.”
Located in the site’s parking lot, the visitor’s center is
appointed with large poster boards depicting renderings of the temple and
stacks of leaflets and literature about the LDS faith. Visitors are encouraged
to take a pamphlet, a handful of candy from several glass bowls or a chunk of
rock.
Yes, rock.
That’s another symbolic aspect of the construction. When
workers dug about halfway down into the 30-foot pit that will serve as the
temple’s underground parking garage, they hit granite. Many people would see
the development as a setback — it took about six months to chip through — but
Alex Carr saw it as a teaching moment. It brought to his mind a scripture
passage in which Christ said a wise man builds his house on rock so it’s not
toppled by winds and rains.
Each day the granite was exposed, Carr climbed down into the
pit and returned with bucketfuls of rocks. He began giving them away to
visiting youth groups and missionaries as a visual reminder of the importance
of building one’s life on firm footing — the rock, of course, serving as an
analogy for faith. He’s amassed an estimated 2,000 pieces of granite but
expects he’ll soon run out: demand has been high.
Soon, Carr plans to hold weekly Monday morning “job prayers”
over the site, its workers and building materials. Though all of the project’s
100 workers are invited, attendance will be optional. He’s not sure anyone will
show up, but he feels the temple's construction is just as special as the
worship services that will eventually take place inside the finished temple.
‘Cleanest construction site he’s ever seen’
Smith pointed to the ritualistic regulations as evidence of
the Mormons’ precision and pride, tenets he indicated have spread to the lay
workers on site.
“In a recent meeting with Mayor Nutter, he made the comment
that we have the cleanest construction site he's ever seen in the city,” Smith
said. “We sweep the sidewalks and the roadways. The fencing is beautiful. It
doesn't have graffiti on it, and it's reflective of the effort that the workers
are putting into it. The workers have a certain pride about the project, so
they feel it's special as well. The experience we've had is that they feel a
special spirit about the property and about the construction.”
He said the church is using top-notch building materials and
enforcing safety rules and site inspections “to the highest standards.” For
example, church officials looked at thousands of types of granite for the
temple’s edifice before settling on one sourced from an island off the coast of
Maine and shipped down from Quebec.
“We spend a lot of money per square foot to make that
happen, and it's worth it because we'll have a building that will be in the
city for not just decades but, we hope, centuries,” Smith said. He acknowledged
the meticulous standards are likely to push the project’s budget over its
initial $70 million estimate, though he was unable to say by how much. “We're
going to do our best to control the costs, but not at the expense of cheapening
the project.”
Construction is “right on schedule” for a 2016 completion,
according to Anderson.
In August, the majority of concrete was poured for the
substructure and two levels of underground parking are nearing completion.
Workers are hoping to begin steel work in January on the temple, which will
rise four stories above ground, or about 75 feet above the sidewalk. The
exterior walls are slated to begin to rise next summer.
“It will be four stories of meeting rooms and worship
centers ... not a big, cavernous cathedral-type building, as maybe the outside
presence would lead you to believe,” Smith said. “It will be a beautiful
structure once it's done.”
The building’s tallest of two spires has been meticulously
measured so to be level with the tops of the adjacent Free Library of
Philadelphia and family court buildings. The inside of the temple will have a
Colonial feel riffing off Independence Hall, with rugs instead of carpeting and
wood that’s painted - never stained.
Despite some of the more unusual requirements the project
entails, Gillespie said he's not aware any of the practices are deterring
workers from signing on.
"I don't want to make it seem like it's a peculiar
job,” he said. “It's a job with some unique requirements, but we're happy to
accommodate. The construction workers are versatile and they can adapt. This is
what the customer wants, it's a sound request and they're paying the bill. It's
going to be a beautiful, beautiful building. This is phenomenal for the
city."
Source: Philly.com
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