Mormon Tabernacle Under Construction. Outdoor view documenting the construction of the Mormon Tabernacle on Temple Square. Albumen CDV on ruled mount. Salt Lake City, Utah Territory: Savage & Ottinger, 1866. Lower mount recto inscribed in contemporary pencil. Mount verso bearing Savage & Ottinger imprint stamped on reused J.M. Westwood printed card. Mount verso inscribed in pencil: "Salt Lake City / Sept 13/66."

A dated architectural CDV capturing the extraordinary wooden lattice-truss framework of the Salt Lake Tabernacle midway through construction. This view shows the massive barrel-vaulted roof partially covered in timber decking at the far end, while the foreground reveals the intricate web of heavy timbers, bridging, and arches designed by church architect Henry Grow. The immediate foreground features an extensive thatched brush bowery and stacks of dressed sandstone and lumber.

Constructed between 1863 and 1867, the Salt Lake Tabernacle stands as one of the most remarkable vernacular engineering achievements in 19th-century America. Spanning 150 feet wide and 250 feet long without intermediate interior supporting pillars, the roof relied on lattice-truss engineering joined by wooden pegs and rawhide bindings due to the scarcity of iron nails in pioneer Utah. Contemporary photographs showing the exposed structural skeleton prior to completion are exceedingly scarce. This is a superb example, perhaps the best known.

Charles Roscoe Savage (1832–1909) and George Martin Ottinger (1833–1917) formed their premier Salt Lake City photographic and art partnership in 1862. Working out of their Great Salt Lake City gallery, Savage & Ottinger became the foremost visual chroniclers of the Mormon pioneer experience, Temple Square construction, and the transcontinental railway. This card features their earliest G.S.L. City oval mark with an inverted overstamp by J. M. Westwood, an associated regional photographer and vendor.

[Mormonism, LDS Church, Salt Lake Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, Great Salt Lake City, Henry Grow, Architecture, Engineering, Lattice Truss, Pioneer Construction, American West] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Carte-de-Visite, CDV, Albumen Photographs, Charles R. Savage, Savage & Ottinger, Utah Photographers]

Very good condition with even tones and strong contrast. The card mount is flat and shows only faint corner rounding and light peripheral age toning. Mount verso remains bright and fully legible with crisp stamps and contemporary 1866 pencil inscriptions.