Don Carlos Young
Joseph Don Carlos Young was an architect, landscape architect, and designer. He served as Church Architect for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1887 to 1893. At that time, the Church dissolved the office of Church Architect, but Young continued to work with the Church in his private practice. He is responsible for the design of the second Eagle Gate; the Latter-day Saint University, now known as Ensign College; the Church Administration Building; and the Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Utah (now the Provo City Library).
After the death of Truman O. Angell in 1887, Young worked on the Salt Lake Temple, redesigning the towers and finials and the final appearance of the windows. He designed the temple’s lavish Victorian/Neo-baroque interior. He also designed the temple's original Annex, the Temple Square electrical system, heating plant and greenhouse/conservatory, and the general landscape design for Temple Square. The completion of the Salt Lake Temple in 1893 signaled the end of the office of Church Architect.
He also taught mechanical and architectural drafting at the University of Deseret and architecture and mathematics at Brigham Young Academy. He also served two terms in the Utah Territorial legislature.
Young was born on May 6, 1855, in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. He was a son of Brigham Young and Emily Dow Partridge, a daughter of Edward Partridge.
He studied at the University of Deseret. He then studied civil engineering and architecture at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. When he returned to Salt Lake City, he worked as a railroad engineer, but soon returned to his training in architecture. He is considered Utah’s first academically trained architect and landscape architect.[1]
Young married Alice Naomi Dowden on September 22, 1881. They had ten children. Young entered into a polygamist marriage on January 11, 1887 with Marion Penelope Hardy in Juarez, Mexico.
He died on October 19, 1938, in Salt Lake City.
