Following a pattern used for meetinghouses in New York City; London, England; Brussels, Belgium; and Hong Kong, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has constructed an uncommon meetinghouse in downtown Salt Lake City to serve the city’s growing urban population.

The four-story meetinghouse stands at the base of a new 25-story office tower — the third tallest building in Utah’s capital city. 

Located at 110 E. Social Hall Ave. — the place Latter-day Saint pioneers once gathered for social events — the building will serve as a meetinghouse for Latter-day Saints and as a commercial office tower.

Construction on the 395-foot-tall building, named 95 State, began in April 2019 and includes a steeple placed next to the meetinghouse.

The joint-use building will serve the city’s vibrant, growing downtown residential population.

Elder Kevin W. Pearson, a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gives a media tour of the Relief Society room and the view of two new urban chapels of the Church at the base of the new 95 State Tower on State Street in Salt Lake City, on Friday, April 8, 2022.

Credit: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

The Church has always demonstrated interest in making sure Salt Lake City remains a “vibrant, interesting, attractive” city for people to live in and to visit, said Elder Kevin W. Pearson, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Church’s Utah Area, during a media event on Friday, April 8.

The building will help the Church continue to grow in the downtown corridor of Salt Lake City, where the new 39,000-square-foot building will house six wards — including two young single adult wards. The new meetinghouse has two chapels, each with a capacity of 500 people. 

The development also includes a roof terrace and classrooms, with spectacular views.

Carrying on the tradition of the original Social Hall Avenue, the new meetinghouse will be “a wonderful gathering place,” said Elder Pearson.

Elder Kevin Pearson, a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, talks with news media representatives during a tour of two new urban chapels at the base of the new 95 State Tower on State Street in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 8, 2022.

Credit: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

The joint-use facility is representative of the legacy of the place — as well as the history of downtown Salt Lake City, headquarters of the Church — Salt Lake Stake President Douglas Wilks said. “To say this is heritage is not just a tagline,” said Wilks, who is also editor of the Deseret News. “It really is what is going on downtown.”

Downtown Salt Lake City “has always really been a place of gathering, a place of community,” said Emily Utt, curator for the Church History Department. “It’s kind of exciting that there’s now a new building almost on the exact same site that is a place of gathering.”

Just as in New York, London, Brussels and Hong Kong, urban real estate can be expensive and difficult to acquire, said Bishop L. Todd Budge, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric.

“Having the office tower provides a source of revenue to pay for the meetinghouse,” said Bishop Budge. “We are trying to be wise stewards of these sacred resources that the Lord has blessed us with.”