Los Angeles California Temple

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The Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Los Angeles California Temple is the tenth operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At 190,614 square feet (18,709 m²) it was the largest LDS temple ever built at the time of its dedication. It has now been surpassed in size by the Salt Lake Temple, which has been enlarged. It is located in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, California.

1 History and Setting
2 Physical Description
3 Current Renovations (as of spring 2006)
4 Excerpt from the dedicatory prayer by President David O. McKay
5 Important dates
6 Latter-day Saint temples in California
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] History and Setting

Located at 10777 W. Santa Monica Boulevard (Google Maps) in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California, the temple sits atop a small hill above the intersection of Overland Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. It occupies 13 of the original 24.23 acres (98,000 m²) purchased from the Harold Lloyd Motion Picture Company on March 23, 1937, by president Heber J. Grant. Construction was to have begun soon thereafter, but financial difficulties relating to the Great Depression and World War II delayed the groundbreaking until 1951. Numerous Church facilities are on its grounds including a meetinghouse, a baseball field, the headquarters of the Church's California Los Angeles Mission, and apartments (used by missionaries, temple workers, temple patrons, and visiting church officials). The grounds are also home to the Los Angeles Regional Family History Center (LARFHC), which is open to the public. It is the second-largest branch in the Family History Library System of the LDS Church, and contains more than 100,000 microfiche and 30,000 books.

The remaining land, along Manning Avenue, was subdivided for residential lots, the sale of which considerably offset the expense of constructing the temple. Because it was the church's first temple (save the roughly contemporaneous Bern Switzerland Temple) built outside of an LDS-dominated settlement, the Los Angeles Temple was the first LDS temple explicitly designed for automobile accessibility: its parking facilities were larger than those of any temple built previously, and there is no direct pedestrian connection between the front doors and Santa Monica Boulevard.

While not as regionally prominent as the temples in Oakland, San Diego, and Washington, the Los Angeles California Temple is still one of the most distinctive features of Los Angeles' Westside. Thousands of commuters pass it every day on busy Santa Monica Boulevard. The proliferation of high-rise buildings along the Wilshire Boulevard corridor and in nearby Century City has reduced its prominence in the Westside skyline. However, its dramatic night lighting and sheer size still make an imposing sight, particularly for travelers exiting the Santa Monica Freeway northbound on Overland.

[edit] Physical Description

The temple's architecture is generally Modernist, an aesthetic that extends to the choice of exterior cladding: 146,000 square feet (14,000 m²) of Mo-Sai pre-cast concrete facing, a mixture of crushed quartz and white Portland cement quarried in Utah and Nevada. The very light brown pigmentation of the Mo-Sai blend has the advantage of concealing the thin layer of soot that accumulates on most buildings in Los Angeles. The temple is 369 feet (112 m) long, 269 feet (82 m) wide and has an overall height of 257 feet (78 m). Atop the temple sits a 15 foot (5 m) tall statue of the angel Moroni. The rooms include a baptistry, celestial room, four ordinance rooms, ten sealing rooms, and an assembly room that stretches the entire length of the temple.

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[edit] Current Renovations (as of spring 2006)

The Los Angeles California Temple has been closed for renovations since November 2005, with reopening originally scheduled for May 2006 but now delayed until late June 2006 at the earliest. After the Apia Samoa Temple was destroyed by an electrical fire in 2003, the LDS Church began a complete overhaul of the electrical, HVAC, and plumbing systems of pre-1990s temples. At the Los Angeles temple, a major part of the renovation project entails the complete redesign and reconstruction of the baptistry, which had long been plagued by mold due to poor ventilation.

Church officials opted not to deconsecrate the temple upon its closure, mandating that only endowed members be allowed to work on the renovation--a decision that saves the expense and logistical hassle of an open house and rededication ceremony, but which has caused a small labor relations controversy in adamantly pro-union Los Angeles. Most of the contractors on the project are non-union firms from the right-to-work states of Utah and Idaho. As a result, Local 1506 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, has sent picketers to the temple gates to protest on several occasions.

[edit] Excerpt from the dedicatory prayer by President David O. McKay

May all who come within these sacred walls feel a peaceful hallowed influence. Cause, O Lord, that even people who pass the grounds , or view the temple from afar, may lift their eyes from the groveling things of sordid life and look up to Thee and Thy providence.

[edit] Important dates

Announcement: 6 March 1937
Groundbreaking/site dedication: 22 September 1951 (David O. McKay)
Open house: 19 December 1955–18 February 1956
Dedication: 11–14 March 1956 (David O. McKay, 8 sessions)