Architecture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The architecture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) includes the design and use of the church's temples, meetinghouses, historic sites, and other buildings and facilities. The LDS Church is known for its unique and often imposing architecture. The church's architecture differs based on the uses of individual buildings and varies in style throughout the world.

Temples


Latter-day saint temples are the most ornate and unique buildings of the church. Latter-day saints believe Temples are "the most sacred place of worship on earth" and a literal "house of the Lord". Temples have been built since 1836, when the Kirtland Temple was built under the direction of Church President Joseph Smith, who claimed to have received a revelation stating that church members to restore the practice of temple worship. Latter-day Saints view temples as the fulfillment of a prophecy found in (KJV).

Temples are used exclusively for special ordinances of the church, which members believe are necessary for exaltation. Because of this importance, temples are much more elaborate and unique than the church's standard meetinghouses, which are used for weekly worship services and social activities.

Early Temples
The first two temples, Kirtland (1833) and Nauvoo (1846), were built before the introduction of the endowment ceremony and baptism for the dead. As such, these temples were not originally designed for worship, but for education. They were used by the School of the Prophets as well as for church leadership meetings and large gatherings. These two temples were built in the Federal, Greek Revival, and Gothic Revival architectural styles.

The next era of temples, often referred to as the "castellated temples", include the first four temples constructed in Utah. These were built between 1847 and 1893. These temples resemble castles and are built in the castellated Gothic style of architecture with some having influence from the Gothic Revival, Neo-Renaissance, Second Empire and Colonial Revival styles.

The Salt Lake Temple, the first of the castellated temples to be started yet last to be finished, is made with a sandstone foundation. The walls are quartz monzonite (which has the appearance of granite) from Little Cottonwood Canyon, located twenty miles (thirty-two kilometres) southeast of the temple. It is the largest temple in the church, featuring a large underground area. The walls of the Temple are nine feet thick at the base and six feet thick at the top. It was also the first temple to feature the angel Moroni statue, which was created by sculptor Cyrus Edwin Dallin, and was added to most temples since.

No Spire Temples
The Laie Hawaii, Cardston Alberta, and Mesa Arizona temples were built with no spire and are meant to resemble Solomon's Temple from the Bible. They notably do not feature the angel Moroni statue that is featured atop most LDS temples. Three additional temples (which were built in the 2010s and 2020s), also do not feature a spire, though are not meant to replicate Solomon's Temple. These are the Meridian Idaho, Paris France Temple, and Lima Peru Los Olivos temples.

The Cardston temple was the first design to be put out to bid to prominent architects and was the first to be built outside the United States.

The Laie Temple is decorated with carved friezes. Each side depicts four dispensations of time: Old Testament Dispensation (west), New Testament Dispensation (south), Book of Mormon Dispensation (north), and Latter-day Dispensation (east).

Center and Single Spire Temples
Many temples, beginning with the Idaho Falls Temple, were built with the center-spire design. This was the first temple in years to be constructed with any sort of spire or tower. The Oakland Temple is an unusual variation on the center spire design as it incorporates four additional spires—one on each corner of the building—for a total of five. The center spire is the tallest and it is the only temple with five spires.

The Bern Switzerland Temple, the first in Europe, was the first temple have been built with a non-center single-spire design. This was meant to be reminiscent of older temples like Kirtland and Nauvoo, but with a more contemporary design.

Since around this time, most of the temples built have been some variation of these designs.

Six-Spire Temples
The Boise Idaho Temple, announced in 1982, was the first temple to be built with the six-spire and sloped-roof design. Despite the six spires and sloped-roofs, temples in this style vary widely in design, size, capacity, and floorplan. An example is the Portland Oregon and Las Vegas Nevada temples. Despite being around the same size, Portland has 8 additional ordinance rooms. Because of this, these temples are some of the most unique temples in the church.

This design was deemed inadequate as the Boise Idaho, Dallas Texas, and Chicago Illinois temples all required extensive remodels soon after opening. Because of this, only 14 temples ended up being built with this style.

All but 3 temples built between 1984 and 1989 are built in this style.

Small Design Temples
In the October 1997 General Conference, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley announced plans to build multiple "smaller temples" in areas that are not quite suitable for large, standard-sized temples.

These temples were built adjacent to existing chapels to share both office space and parking facilities. These temples have no office, laundry facilities, or waiting rooms, and have small changing rooms. The design includes a single ordinance room that acts as the Creation Room, Garden Room, World Room, and Terrestrial Room, leading to the adjacent Celestial Room. A sealing room and small baptistry are also included. Most temples built, beginning with the Monticello Utah Temple, share the same floorplan. 3 temples were initially built, followed by 38 more soon after. Eventually, 60 temples were built using the small design, some with slight variations.

Some of these temples required additions to be added as more church members moved into areas serviced by these temples.

Repurposed Temples
Four temples have been built by refurbishing non-temple buildings.

The first, the Vernal Utah Temple, was built in the old Uintah Stake Tabernacle. After the tabernacle was replaced by a new stake center in 1948, the tabernacle fell into disuse. In 1984, the church announced the tabernacle's closure due to "public safety reasons". A petition was formed to save the tabernacle building and in 1994, the church decided to retrofit it into a temple. The temple was completed in 1997.

The Copenhagen Denmark Temple was opened in 2004 after converting an old meetinghouse, the Priorvej Chapel, that was built by local church members in 1931. The building had also served as a bomb shelter during World War II.

The Manhattan New York Temple opened immediately after the Copenhagen Temple. It was adapted from an existing stake center across from the Lincoln Center in the Upper West Side. Parts of the building are still used as a meetinghouse as well as a Family History Center. The temple occupies parts of the first floor and all of the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of the building. The interiors of these floors were completely renovated and the walls were soundproofed so traffic noise would not interrupt temple patrons. The cornerstone containing the year of dedication, commonly found on the outside facade of most temples, is located in the interior lobby next to the elevator which leads to the chapel portion of the building. Inside the temple, beehives are carved into the molding, and door handles that look like the Statue of Liberty torch are found throughout. Paintings on the walls of many of the rooms depict scenes from nature. The church has announced that the temple will close in 2024 for major renovations.

On October 1, 2011, it was announced at the church's general conference that the Provo Tabernacle, which had been burned by a fire, would be converted into the Provo City Center Temple, the second temple in Provo, Utah.

Meetinghouses
Meetinghouses of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are used for weekly worship services as well as various social and community activities and events. Meetinghouses serve anywhere from 1 to a few wards or branches (congregations) and a larger meetinghouse, known as a stake center (or stakehouse), also houses offices for local stake (diocese) leadership. Meetinghouses vary widely in terms of architectural style, but have for the most part been standardized in modern times.

Unlike most Christian denominations, Latter-day Saints do not generally use the cross as a symbol for their church. Noticeably, this means that most meetinghouses instead use a pointed steeple instead of a cross.

Early and Pioneer meetinghouses
Early meetinghouses varied widely in style. Originally, Latter-day saints used houses of local members (and in some very isolated communities, still do). As the church grew, specific meetinghouses were built or retrofitted to serve local congregations.

After the Mormon pioneers made their way west to Utah, they began to build permanent buildings, more reminiscent of "modern" churches. The styles varied widely and were often built by local members.

Early modern meetinghouses
After the early pioneer era, around the 1880s–90s, most meetinghouses were built by local members with most of the funding from the Church. Because of the lack of official standardization in building plans, these buildings varied in architectural style but most often used either romanesque revival or prairie architecture. They were generally designed by local members, occasionally with assistance from church architects.

This era of meetinghouses, especially the chapels, were often very ornate, often featuring murals and stained glass, an uncommon sight in contemporary meetinghouses.

Early Standardization
Starting in the late 1930s, the church began to standardize meetinghouse plans. The standardization primarily affected the exterior of buildings and the interior floorplan still varied widely. The plans called for an International Style of architecture with hints of classical. Some of these buildings still featured stained glass, though without artwork. These buildings were almost always built in the center of residential neighborhoods, and often either did not feature parking lots, or had very small lots.

Standardization
In 1980, the Church released its first 3 standardized floorplans for American meetinghouses. One plan for branches or small wards, another for standard sized wards, and another for stake centers. All meetinghouses built after this point, with some exceptions, were built according to or very similar to these standard plans. Additional standard plans were also introduced later in the 1980s to allow for slightly more variation. In the 1990s, the church updated its standard plans and has updated them again slightly throughout the 2000s through the present. These meetinghouses are uniquely designed by members of the Church Architecture, Engineering & Construction Division (AEC). They incorporate traditional architecture with hints of various other styles depending on location.

Elsewhere in the world, the LDS Church has created standardized floorplans that better fit in with the culture and geography of individual countries and regions. In tropical locations, the roofs tend to be thicker and the meetinghouses smaller. They are often light green or white as opposed to the standard brick or stone of the United States.

Seminaries and Institutes
In the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operates Seminaries and Institutes of Religion for high schoolers and college students, respectively. These building are generally uniform, though in places with very large populations of Mormon students, may be much larger than the average Seminary or Institute. These buildings tend to small and practical, containing only a foyer, classrooms, necessary offices, and occasionally a cultural hall.

While Institutes of Religion are located at most major American universities, seminaries are generally only located in heavily Mormon states like Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Oregon.