Temple architecture (LDS Church)

On December 27, 1832—two years after the organization of the Latter Day Saint church—the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, reported receiving a revelation that called upon church members to restore the practice of temple worship. The Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio were commanded to: "Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." Latter-day Saints view temples as the fulfillment of a prophecy found in Malachi 3:1 (KJV). The Kirtland Temple was the first temple of the Latter Day Saint movement and the only temple completed in Smith's lifetime. Its unique design was replicated on a larger scale with the Nauvoo Temple and in subsequent temples built by the church. As the needs of the church have changed, so has Temple architecture—from large castellic structures adorned with celestial symbols, to smaller, simpler designs, often derived from a standard set of plans. Kirtland Temple: The Kirtland Temple, built in Kirtland, Ohio, was not designed as a church or cathedral. It was a house of learning, where the School of the Prophets could meet. This temple was not built to accommodate the endowment ceremony, which was taught later. It has no baptistry, as the revelation regarding baptism for the dead had not yet been received. The structure has two unique sets of pulpits, representing the Aaronic Priesthood and the Melchizedek Priesthood. Truman O. Angell recorded in his journal that about this time Frederick G. Williams, one of President Smith's counselors, came into the temple during construction and related the following: Joseph received the word of the Lord for him to take his two counselors, Frederick G. Williams and Sidney Rigdon, and come before the Lord and He would show them the plan or model of the house to be built. We went upon our knees, called on the Lord, and the building appeared within viewing distance, I being the first to discover it. Then all of us viewed it together. After we had taken a good look at the exterior, the building seemed to come right over us, and the makeup of this hall seemed to coincide with what I there saw to a minutia. Angell continued as church architect, designing the Salt Lake Temple, the Lion House, the Beehive House, the Utah Territorial Statehouse, the St. George Utah Temple, and many other public buildings. The sandstone used to build the temple was quarried from south of the Temple. Native timbers were cut from the surrounding forests. The Temple, begun in 1833 and dedicated in 1836, was one of the largest buildings in Northern Ohio. It is a combination of Greek, Georgian, Gothic, and Federalist architectural styles. The building has been designated a National Historical Landmark and has been recognized by the Architects Society of Ohio and the Ohio Historical Society. The pulpits and the pews are among the distinctive features of the interior. Two sets of pulpits grace the main floor with another two sets on the second floor. The seats in the pew boxes are benches that can be shifted from the back to the front, thus making it possible for the congregation to face either the front or the rear pulpits. The main floor of the Kirtland Temple was used for various services of worship, and the second floor was a school for the ministry. The third floor contained rooms for the "Kirtland High School" during the day and Church quorum meetings in the evening. The west third floor room was Joseph Smith, Jr.'s office. Nauvoo Temple: Construction of the original Nauvoo Temple commenced April 6, 1841, and its final dedication was in May 1846. The temple was designed in the Greek Revival style by Mormon architect William Weeks, under the direction of Joseph Smith, Jr. Weeks' design made use of distinctively Latter-day Saint motifs, including sunstones, moonstones, and starstones, representing the Three Degrees of Glory in the Mormon conception of the afterlife (D&C 76: 70-81). The placement of the symbols on the building in descending order—starstones, sunstones, and moonstones—does not support the above assertion, but rather a reflection of Revelation 12:1. At its base the building was 128 feet (39 m) long and 88 ft (27 m) wide, with a clock tower and weather vane reaching to 165 ft (50 m)—a 60% increase over the dimensions of the Kirtland Temple. Like Kirtland, the Nauvoo Temple contained two assembly halls, one on the first floor and one on the second, called the lower and upper courts. Both had classrooms and offices in the attic. Unlike Kirtland, the Nauvoo Temple had a full basement, which housed a baptismal font. Symbolic placement of the rooms: The location of the rooms is symbolic. Each room represents progression, and is therefore located in a different elevation based on that progression. This symbolic progression was first used in the Nauvoo temple, and has been continued in some subsequently built temples. The baptistry was the lowest room of the temple, often in the basement. The ordinance rooms are elevated above that, leading to the Celestial room which is, in some cases, even higher. In the case of the Nauvoo temple, this would have been in the attic. The sealing rooms are the loftiest rooms of the temple. Basement: The basement of the Nauvoo Temple, used as the baptistery, contained a large baptismal font in the center of the main room. The basement proper was 100 ft (30 m) long and 40 ft (12 m) wide with six rooms of varying size on either side. Approximately 12 ft (3.7 m) east of the entrance to the baptistery and 10 ft (3.0 m) from either the side of the support piers rested blocks, roughly 14 in (360 mm) square, which projected 7 in (180 mm) above the brick floor. These objects are not mentioned in any account of the basement, and their purpose is unknown. The font, built of tongue and grooved white pine, was painted white. It was sixteen feet long, twelve feet wide, and four feet deep. The lip of the font was seven feet from the floor. The font's cap and base were carved molding in an "antique style" and the sides were finished with panel work. Two railed stairways led to the font from the north and south sides.[5] A well on the east side of the font provided the water supply. Great Hall: A flight of eight broad steps led to a landing where two more steps entered three archways. These archways led to the vestibule, the formal entrance to the temple. The archways were approximately 9 ft (2.7 m) wide and 21 ft (6.4 m) high. Two large double doors on the east wall opened to the first floor assembly hall of the lower court, known as the "Great Hall", which occupied the remainder of the floor space east of the vestibule. Two doors, one on the north wall and another on the south, opened to the landing of two spiral staircases, one in the northwest corner and the other in the southwest corner, which led to the attic. These were the only access points to the rest of the building. The room was flanked on either side by seven large, arched windows, with four similar windows along the east wall. An arched ceiling spanned some 50 ft (15 m) in breadth, in the center. The floor was stained wood and the walls were painted white. One report stated that on the east wall of the vestibule was an entablature, similar to the one in the facade, which read in bright gilded letters, "THE HOUSE OF THE LORD – Built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – Commenced April 6th, 1841 – HOLINESS TO THE LORD." At the east and west ends of the hall were two sets of similar pulpits. They were arranged with four levels, the top three consisting of a group of three semi-circular stands. The lowest level was a drop table which was raised for use in the sacrament. The pulpits to the east, standing between the windows, were reserved for the Melchizedek Priesthood. Written in gilded letters along the arch of the ceiling, above the eastern pulpits, were the words "The Lord Has Seen Our Sacrifice – Come After Us." The pulpits to the west end were reserved for the Aaronic Priesthood. The hall was fitted with enclosed pews with two aisles. The room could accommodate up to 3,500 people. Because there were pulpits on both ends of the room, the pews had movable backs which could be swung to face either direction, depending on who was presiding – the Melchizedek Priesthood or the Aaronic Priesthood. The first floor also included a mezzanine with fourteen small rooms. Stairwells: The two stairwells were constructed of dressed limestone walls. One rose from the northwest corner and the other from the southwest corner of the temple. They were not true circles but were flattened on four sides. Nor were they symmetrical, being 16 ft (4.9 m) in diameter from east to west and 17 ft (5.2 m) in diameter from north to south. This was done to support landings and other support structures. The staircases, made of wood, provided access to all levels of the temple, with a landing at each floor. The southwest staircase was completely finished, but the staircase in the northwest corner was never completed—it was roughed in with temporary boards resting on the risers. Workmen used this staircase to gain access to the building during its construction, especially during the winter of 1845–1846, when persons were using the other staircase to reach the attic for ordinance work. Second floor assembly hall: The second floor hall was similar in construction to the Great Hall, except that it included the foyer area, the location of the vestibule. This made the room about seventeen feet longer than the Great Hall. A 41-foot-long (12 m) stone arch ran north and south between the circular stairwells supporting the massive timbers for the tower above. The room had seven large windows along the north and south wide, with four windows along the east wall. The floor would have had a similar configuration as the Great Hall with a set of double pulpits and pews, but the interior was never completed. The room was furnished with wooden benches for an occasional meeting. The second floor hall also included a mezzanine with fourteen small rooms. Attic: At the top of the two stairways, opening to a foyer, was the attic floor. The attic was not built of limestone but of wood. The west end of the temple was a flat-roofed section that supported the tower. The rest of the attic was a pitched-roof section running the length of the temple. The area was illuminated by six windows along the foyer's west wall. Outside windows also provided light along the north and south sides. The roof had four octagonal skylight windows to provide light to the interior rooms, in addition to a twenty-foot arched window. Tower rooms: Rising from the plateau of the attic is an octagonal tower. The tower was divided into three sections, each accessible by a series of stairways leading from the attic to an observation deck above. The lowest section was a belfry containing a bell, which was rung for various occasions. Between the observation deck and the belfry was a section containing the four clockwork mechanisms. Reconstruction: In 1999 it was announced the temple would be rebuilt with the same exterior look of the original temple. On June 27, 2002, the Nauvoo Illinois Temple was dedicated. The limestone used for the original temple was quarried from a site just west of the temple. The stone for the new temple was quarried in Russellville, Alabama, a site chosen specifically because the stone best matched the original. The reconstructed baptistery follows the original, with the addition of a metal lining to prevent deterioration and a platform where witnesses may sit. The floor of the baptistery, the largest of any temple in the church, was replicated in red brick tile. A dome and chandelier are featured in the ceiling and art glass window is on the east end. The room has intricate crown moldings. The window moldings included framework for six-pointed stars made of red, white, and blue glass to replicate the originals.