The Alrasool Islamic Center of Utah, alongside community partners CRSA Architecture and Preservation Utah, are pleased to announce that Alrasool has been awarded a prestigious 2023 National Fund for Sacred Places restoration grant. This matching grant assists Alrasool in engaging the community in restoring its 1894 mosque and its 1910 community and educational center located at 1247 West 4800 South, Taylorsville (84123). These conjoined buildings were originally constructed by pioneer-era craftsmen to serve members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This complex is one of two sites in Taylorsville listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the first Taylorsville building ever to be listed on the Register. Receiving this National Fund for Sacred Places Grant is a tremendous honor for Alrasool as the congregation was one of just sixteen recipients in a pool of nearly four hundred applicants. This grant marks the first time that the National Fund for Sacred Places has selected a Muslim congregation and the first time that the Fund has given to a Utah-based congregation.

The Alrasool Islamic Center building is truly a Utah architectural treasure. The chapel is an assembly-hall-type building constructed in 1894 by Utah handcart pioneer Archibald Frame. The adjoining cultural center was constructed fifteen years later by Archibald Frame Jr., the son of the original builder. The Alrasool Center is one of the few surviving buildings left in Utah that document the evolution of the Mormon chapel. Rather than adopt Catholic, Protestant, or other mainstream Christian architecture, the Mormon Church's nineteenth-century practitioners established new architectural typology to accommodate their faith practice. These buildings, which included temples, tabernacles, and chapels, were instrumental in helping to settle America's Intermountain West as they provided both focal points and gathering spaces for the hundreds of new communities established by Mormon pioneers. Of all the buildings constructed by nineteenth-century Mormons, chapels most directly addressed each settlement community's daily needs. These chapels served as religious centers and the West's first Anglo-American educational, political, and social centers.

Beyond its architectural significance, the Alrasool buildings’ importance stems from their years of use as a center of faith and community gathering. For well over a century, Alrasool's building have sheltered various communities, providing them with a place to worship and develop bonds anchored in cultural exchange. As previously noted, immigrant Mormon pioneers first built this sanctuary in 1894 to operate as a religious, cultural, educational, and recreational hub. Prior to its purchase by Alrasool, this building housed the Mount Calvary Assembly of God. Today, the building houses a mosque, community center, and event space for a multinational Shi’a Muslim congregation drawing from Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming. Alrasool's congregation was established in 1988 by a handful of young Shi'a men who immigrated to the United States after fleeing the 1979 establishment of the Iranian Republic and the subsequent 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran War. Since 1988, Alrasool has welcomed waves of immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and other parts of the Middle East, many of them refugees of war. Alrasool's present congregants are mindful that their building has long represented America's promise of religious freedom, equality, and the opportunity for a better life.

While this historic building requires extensive work, Alrasool's congregation is highly motivated to restore this facility and ensure that it serves as a religious and cultural gathering place well into the future. The importance of this building to members of the Mormon faith and to the state’s growing Muslim population makes this restoration attractive as an opportunity to bring diverse people together to celebrate the shared history and collaboratively work towards rehabilitating a vital community landmark. Alrasool asks Utahns to help restore their landmark building. Every dollar raised up to $100,000 will be matched dollar for dollar by the National Fund for Sacred Places. A dollar will match every two dollars raised above $100,000 from the National Fund. Donations are tax-deductible, and every dollar donated to this effort will directly fund the restoration of Alrasool’s historic buildings.