A History of LDS Temple Architecture: Part 3 - Expansion & Progression

Note: This is Part 3 in a series on the history of the development of LDS temple architecture. This series is based on my personal research and is a looser, less detailed, and less formal version of a paper that was presented at the 2015 BYU Religious Education Student Symposium. For a complete list of posts in this series, click here.

After the St. George Temple was dedicated, Brigham Young dedicated sites for temples in Logan and Manti. Truman O. Angell, Jr. was the director for the Logan Temple; William Folsom was placed in charge of the Manti Temple, and Church architect Truman O. Angell, Sr., was directed to oversee their work and that of the Salt Lake Temple.

Angell, Jr. developed a new floor plan for the Logan Temple. This called for progressive rooms that followed the pattern of the Endowment House, taking advantage of the temple's larger floor plan and increased attention to detail. Apparently, Angell, Sr. approved these changes reluctantly (he left his signature off of the revised plans), but Folsom applied the same plans to the Manti Temple. This resulted in a very different type of floor plan that would influence future temples greatly.

Logan Temple Garden Room

The Logan Temple's emphasis was on immersion (which facilitated the endowment's presentation) and symbolism. Murals in the Creation, Garden, and World rooms enveloped patrons in the setting of the endowment; stairs, higher ceilings and windows, and increasingly ornate decor highlighted the physical and spiritual concepts of progression that the endowment teaches.

The terrestrial room was particularly unique, as the veil at the front of the room was a full half-floor above the terrestrial room itself.

Logan Temple Terrestrial Room

The Manti Temple employed this concept with a little more detail (as they had more time to take this plan into account before the temple's completion). It's particularly detailed in the increased ornateness of the woodwork, moldings, and rooms as patrons progress from creation to celestial room.

Manti Temple Garden Room

This temple arguably has one of the most successful terrestrial rooms; on the whole, it was done much better than its counterpart in Logan.

Manti Temple Terrestrial Room

The Salt Lake Temple was the last one to have its interior floor plan left in doubt. Because it was started so much earlier than the Logan and Manti Temples, the original plan was for it to follow the design of the temples in Kirtland, Nauvoo, and St. George--two large assembly rooms, with the baptistry and endowment rooms wedged into the basement. Truman O. Angell's son, Angell Jr., suggested to John Taylor that the temple's plans be modified to match those of Logan and Manti. Angell Sr. disagreed. John Taylor never made the decision; ultimately, it was Wilford Woodruff that decided to follow the modified plans.

Salt Lake Temple Grand Staircase

Still, and perhaps because of the late change, the Salt Lake Temple's progression isn't as deliberate as that of Logan and Manti. Instead of the many stairs that come between each endowment room (to the point that the Logan Temple had no clear second floor), the Salt Lake Temple has a only one or two stairs (now ramps) between rooms, with a large staircase after the Garden Room. This allows the temple to still keep two clear floors, while maintaining progression.

Salt Lake Temple Terrestrial Room

The design of this temple still works quite well, mimicking the increased ornateness of Logan and Manti, adding a mural to the world room (which Manti neglected, as it was not added until the 1940s), and having the most detailed celestial room to that date. The celestial room cuts off the floor above, allowing it to be the tallest room of the floor. Stained glass was used in the terrestrial and celestial rooms, as well as the sealing rooms off of the celestial room itself. It was built as a landmark temple, and it continues to be so today.

Salt Lake Temple Celestial Room

Once the Salt Lake Temple was completed, another temple wouldn't be built for 25 years. If a temple had been built in this time period, it's very likely that it would have heavily mimicked the style of the temples in Logan, Manti, and Salt Lake. As it is, the temples that would come in the 1920s took a good deal of their plans from these pioneer temples, but used them in a new, original way that would provide other forms of symbolism.