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SALT LAKE CITY — The historic oak doors of the Salt Lake Temple, which have served as the backdrop to countless wedding photos and family memories since 1893, are now restored to their proper place after a methodical re-installation was completed this month.
Eight total doors, weighing 580 pounds each, were carefully put back into place at four entrances on the building’s east and west sides, marking a significant milestone in returning the temple exterior to its original appearance.
In close collaboration with Jacobsen Construction project leaders, experts at Fetzer Architectural Woodwork & Millwork Company used specialized hoisting equipment to complete the sensitive task. Multiple systems of redundancy were utilized to protect against drops or scrapes. Dusty Roe, senior project manager at Jacobsen, said the successful milestone was a touching moment for the renovation team.
“I’ve seen more than one or two tears inside there; people walking and looking at what it is,” Roe told KSL. “To see it in vibrant colors — it’s impressive.”
The 12-foot-tall, 4-foot-wide doors were removed in February 2020, early in the project, after special ramps were built on the exterior stairways to support that task. Crews performed the removal using hoisting equipment that had been specially adapted from use for rock climbers and rappelling enthusiasts. During both removal and re-installation, at least eight team members were assigned to each door to steady and guide it.
“(Re-installing the doors) was more nerve-racking taking them down,” Roe said to KSL. “We did some mock-ups. ‘How are you going to do it over the top of the stairs?’ Everything we’ve done has been thoroughly thought through on this job.”
The return of the doors marks one of the final steps of the large-scale Salt Lake Temple and Temple Square renovation, which has been ongoing since early 2020. During the project, several seismic reinforcements have been made to the historic temple structure, a new Visitors Center and temple additions have been built, and the whole Temple Square campus has been beautified and refreshed.
The doors were refurbished by Fetzer and by John Canning & Co., who worked together to reinforce and clean them. Crews used color-matching epoxy to fill in small cracks that had formed in the doors over time and to remove dirt and debris that had accumulated into the carving work for more than a century. Altogether, this process took about a year. During long periods when the doors were not being refurbished, they were stored in a climate-controlled warehouse, carefully suspended in their crates to reduce friction and prevent warping effects.
“These doors are essentially priceless. Everybody who’s worked on them has felt how special this is,” Austin Gifford, project manager at Fetzer, told the Jacobsen Newsroom. “We put many of our most experienced craftsmen onto this project. It wasn’t just anybody in our shop who got to do it.”
The doors’ internal hardware was also updated to allow each side of the doorway to open on its own, which wasn’t previously possible. Historically, the doors were never used for regularly going in and out of the temple, but they will now be used as emergency exits — and will also be kept open during the Salt Lake Temple open house from April to October 2027. Huge numbers of visitors from across the globe are expected to attend.
Josh Fajardo, superintendent at Jacobsen Construction, told The Church News that he looks forward to the temple’s newly refurbished doors being opened to welcome people from all over the world.
“Myself and my wife, we have a picture in front of these doors,” Fajardo said, referring to the day they were married. “So being able to put this piece of history back into place is — I’m sure that people (who) walk these Temple Square grounds are going to appreciate it.”
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Article cover photo: Church Newsroom