Rough granite walls are laid out in cruciform style making the hall's exterior look like a small gothic cathedral.

Twenty-four spires mark the perimeter of the building's footprint and a tower rises from the intersection of the floor plan's apparent crucifix.

Although built of quartz monzonite rock from the same quarry as the Salt Lake Temple, the Assembly Hall's unhewn exterior looks much different.

Building began on the southwest corner of Temple Square on the site of what was called the "Old Tabernacle," razed earlier that year.

John Taylor, then president of the church, cleared up the confusion by naming it the "Salt Lake Assembly Hall" in 1879.

Currently, the Assembly Hall hosts occasional free weekend music concerts and is used as overflow for the church's biannual general conferences.

"[1][2] The renovations also included creation of rehearsal studios in the building's basement containing three additional organs and a one-manual harpsichord built in 1981 by William Dowd.