Interview
with Earl Davies, Great-Grandson of Morgan Davies
Conducted by Florence Griffin Butler
on February 1, 1990
In November and December of 1962 and January and February
of 1963, Earl Davies participated in an interior remodeling project at the Salt Lake
Temple that was
undertaken in order to install an air conditioning system. This experience gave
Earl an opportunity to see first-hand the ornamental plastering which had been
done by Morgan Davies and his crew of workers while the temple was being
constructed in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
FGB: Was there
ornamental plastering in each of the rooms?
Earl: There
is no ornamental plastering in the garden or the world rooms. The ornamental
plastering is found in the telestial and the
celestial rooms and some of the sealing rooms. One sealing room in particular I
remember, they had to run a duct work up through a corner of it, then the mold work had to be run around that piece that was
run in there. There was cornice work around the ceiling and all that had to be
run around. Then they plastered around the duct work that went up through so
that it looked like original work.
FGB: How would
you evaluate the plastering work that you saw?
Earl: Very,
very good: They couldn't be beat. Those old-time plasterers knew what they were
doing. It's unbelievable! Some of the ornaments around the light pieces were
put up in quarters but were done so skillfully that it appeared to be in one
piece. There are flowers on the outer edge and some of the flowers and leaves
would actually be one piece but overlay onto the other piece so that there
wouldn't be any show of a crack or anything. We thought it was one solid piece
until we took them down.
FGB: Without your
training and knowledge we wouldn't be aware of the workmanship these plasterers
left for us to admire. As I listen to you share your experiences, I'm gaining
an appreciation for the quality of the work they did.
Earl: It was
just outstanding. There could be no criticism of that. It was just beautiful.
One thing that really intrigued me, I guess you would say, was the circular
stairways in the corners. They come down in a circular motion--of course, here
again, it wouldn't mean anything to anyone else, but they come down and then
they flatten out for the landings and then they drop off and go down again and
those run work--or mold work would run down around there just perfect and you
couldn't tell where they'd changed their direction at all. Then when they got
to the bottom, instead of stopping at the doorway, there was a little door and
then there's a ceiling part that goes right down to the floor and they finished
that mold work right down to the floor. Even though it was
closed off and no way to get in there. I thought that was a little
interesting.
Up in
the tower, there are some rooms and even they were finished off. I don't
suppose that they were ever used. I don't think they were even painted. But
they did marvelous work. Nobody could do better. It couldn't be improved on at
all.
FGB: Did they
make their own molds?
Earl: They
may not have for the temple. Grandpa (Thomas J. Davies) was kind of the
"go-between" between the people down town that made the ornamental
plaster forms and the ones up in the temple putting it up. There was quite a
variety of forms used. Clusters, what they called piano keys, eggs and
darts--all these things. In fact, there's someplace upstairs in the celestial
room where there's a baby hanging out. To get a mold they have to have like a sculpture. What I understand they do, is cover the
baby with something, put it in a plaster cast, then they make a mold from that
so they can redo it and cut it in half and then pour the plaster right in the
mold. That's all done with a rubber mold, or something like rubber. Then they pour
the plaster into it and
usually make it into about sixteen to eighteen piece lengths
and then they put them together. But they knew how to do it. I've seen Grandpa
(Thomas J. Davies) do some of it at the house right there by the garage
out in back--like making a circular
piece to go around the lights. You've
seen those things? That's what they called "benching it." They pour
it on a bench and then stick it up afterwards.
They had
a lot of skillful techniques. You know the arches in front of the Garden Room?
When Father remodeled our home up in Morgan, he put in an archway between
the dining room and the front room. So
many people would come up over the hill and look in through the front room window and see
that arch and make such a comment about
what a beautiful arch he had made. I guess I was about sixteen when my father made that
arch and I watched him and saw what he
went through to do it.
When we
got up to the temple the "higher than they are round windows"--you know which ones I mean?
Way up to the top there? And those arches in the front of the Garden Room. You can't just do those like
ordinary windows. There's no way. It's not like doing a circle. You have to have it on
a radius that works out and
nobody knew what they were doing. The lather went in there and
put a piece of bead on but it was terrible.
And so I said to the foreman up there, "Now, I'll tell you how to do that if
you'll just go down and have a cross made and I'll show you how to run that
arch." I told him how to make it and everything and of course it worked out
perfect because that was the right way to do it.
When I
said something about this to Father, he said, "I don't remember anything
about that. I don't remember ever doing that!" Here I was just a sixteen-year old kid and I
just watched him and when it came time, I knew what to do! And when they put the draperies up there, why,
the drapery
man came and he said, "Where's that
thing that you guys used to do that arch with? I need it to put the draperies
up!" It's real neat. The carpenters
could figure out a way to draw it but hey didn't know how to put it up there.
It really worked out neat. Now, you probably wouldn't find anyone who knows how
to do it.
