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The new Social Hall Meetinghouse in downtown Salt Lake.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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The lobby and entrance to the new Social Hall Meeting House.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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The roof terrace of the Social Hall Meeting House.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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The Social Hall Meeting House main entrance.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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A chapel in the Social Hall Meeting House.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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Elder Kyrylo Pokhylko, area Seventy and an assistant to the area Presidency, will oversee The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Ukraine and Moldova area.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced three postconference updates this week.

Urban chapels

On Friday, a special media tour was given through the new urban chapels and business office mixed-used building in downtown Salt Lake City.

“The idea came to have a joint-use space and build an office tower and combine that with a meetinghouse, and it’s a very economical way to do it,” said Bishop L. Todd Budge of the Church’s Presiding Bishopric, which oversees the construction of places of worship for the global faith.

“We started construction in April of 2019. So, it’s been about three years, but it’s a magnificent 25-story building,” Budge said. “The building is the third tallest in Salt Lake City, standing at 395 feet.”

The 39,000-square-foot, four-story meetinghouse is at the base of the new office tower 95 State and has a separate address from the office tower. A steeple was placed next to the meetinghouse entrance that faces Social Hall Avenue, once the location for Latter-day Saint pioneers to gather for social events. The original structure, known as Social Hall, was built in 1852 under the direction of President Brigham Young.

“This downtown block has always really been a place of gathering, a place of community,” said Emily Utt, curator of 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.”

A memorial with remnants of the original structure is encased in an underground tunnel entrance to the buildings.

The original Social Hall remained a place of social events until 1922. A century later, the location will be a gathering place for today’s urban Latter-day Saints. Church leaders have named the place of worship the Social Hall Avenue Meetinghouse, located at 110 E. Social Hall Ave.

The new meetinghouse has two chapels, so it can host two congregations at the same time, each with a capacity of 500 people. Six wards (congregations) will gather in the building, including two for young single adults. The meetinghouse was built to accommodate a growing number of residential complexes in the downtown area and promote a more walkable community.

“If (Brigham Young) were to come up that escalator now, I think he’d be quite surprised at what’s on this piece of land,” Budge said. “This will also be a very social place. … We have a beautiful outdoor terraced garden. And I can just see young single adults and youth meeting out there and socializing and building relationships with each other.”

The development also includes a roof terrace, which can be used by office tenants during the day and church groups in the evenings, and a Sunday School room, where the women’s Relief Society organization meets — with all the features of a traditional classroom combined with a spectacular view.

The unique development in Utah’s fast-growing capital city models some of the church’s other urban meetinghouses in major cities around the world.

“New York, London, Brussels and Alexandria, Virginia, are all cities that are expensive, and real estate is difficult to acquire. And so, we’ve been able to do these types of joint-use facilities to make it a much more economical proposition,” Budge said.

“Having the office tower provides a source of revenue to pay for the meetinghouse. And so, we’re trying to be wise stewards of these sacred resources that the Lord has blessed us with,” he added.

The tower and meetinghouse were developed by City Creek Reserve, a real estate investment affiliate of the church. Okland Construction was the general contractor. Church tithes were not used to construct the office tower.

A public open house will be held at the church meetinghouse on Saturday, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. The dedication is scheduled for Sunday and will be conducted by Elder Kevin W. Pearson, Utah Area president.

New mission, another reinstated

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is creating a new mission in Spain. The Spain Madrid North Mission will include areas from the existing Spain Madrid and Spain Barcelona Missions.

The England Bristol Mission will be reinstated, from the England Birmingham and England London Missions. The boundaries of the England Leeds Mission will also be realigned with these changes.

Kevin E. and Janine D. Gallacher (currently serving in the England Birmingham Mission since July 2021) will be reassigned to the England Bristol Mission. Adam and Heather West will assume leadership of the England Birmingham Mission. Christopher L. and Trista S. Eastland will lead the Spain Madrid North Mission.

These changes will take effect in early July, and there will be a total of 411 missions worldwide.

Area leadership

Area leadership assignments have been announced by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The changes affect area presidencies and will become effective on Aug. 1, with the exception of Europe Central, Europe East and Europe North, which are effective immediately.

Members of area presidencies are General Authority Seventies or Area Seventies. Area presidencies consist of a president and two counselors who operate from area offices in each assigned area.

These changes mean there will be 23 areas in the Church of Jesus Christ — six that span the United States and Canada and 17 additional areas outside of those two countries, including a new Europe North Area and the Europe Central Area, which will together help supervise an area with a large number of stakes, missions and languages in the region.

The three Europe areas will be as follows:

Europe Central: Germany (Area office), France, Poland, Albania, Georgia, Romania, Andorra, Greece, San Marino, Armenia, Hungary, Serbia, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Slovakia, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Malta, Tajikistan, Croatia, Montenegro, Turkey, Cyprus, Netherlands, Turkmenistan, Czech Republic, North Macedonia and Uzbekistan.

Europe East: Russia (Area office), Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Europe North: United Kingdom (Area office), Greenland, Norway, Cape Verde, Iceland, Portugal, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Lithuania

Of note to members of the church is the following adjustment: “At this time, Ukraine and Moldova will be separate and overseen by Elder Kyrylo Pokhylko in his role as an Assistant to the Europe North Area Presidency,” the statement said.

Pokhylko, 44, of Kyiv, Ukraine, was ordained an area Seventy in April 2020. At that time, he was serving as president of the Baltic Mission. He also is a former branch president, stake presidency member and stake president. He and his wife, Elena, have two children.

The Kyiv Ukraine Temple was dedicated Aug. 29, 2010, by church President Thomas S. Monson and is in Borshagivka Village outside Kyiv.

Beginning in 1984, areas were established to direct the work in geographic locations of the global church. The area presidencies for the U.S. and Canada will work from church headquarters in Salt Lake City. The church’s Middle East/Africa North Area is administered from headquarters.

“The Seventy are to act in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the Twelve … in building up the Church and regulating all the affairs of the same in all nations,” according to church information.

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