A History of LDS Temple Architecture: Part 6 - Remodels & Revision

Note: This is Part 6 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.

 In the study of how temple architecture has developed over the years, two of the most surprising facts are (1) How quickly the Church adjusted the endowment ceremony to a film version, without much documented pushback or concern about how the film dramatization would change how the ceremony is experienced, and (2) How quickly the changes were applied not only in new temples, but even in old temples, drastically changing their architecture, no matter their historic status. Most of this remodeling occurred beginning in the 1970s, but the idea for such changes began much earlier. As early as 1956, President McKay was pleased with the way the film ordinance turned out, and suggested that the crowds in the Salt Lake and Logan Temples--where patrons could wait a few hours before getting into a session--could "be overcome in part by introducing the more efficient way [film] of conducting the sessions." Elder Richard L. Evans, the next year, said that he was in favor of putting "in all the Temples the new presentation of the endowment ceremony."

In considering the changes that were made to these temples, we should consider the context of the Church at this period. Utah's population grew by over 50% between 1950 and 1970, causing a similar explosion in Church membership in many cities and towns. In 1969, the average temple district had 38 stakes; by 1979, it was up to 64 stakes each.

The Church was also rapidly expanding overseas and was dealing with the budgetary constraints that came with such growth. By 1959, increasing investments in Church education and the building program had led the Church to a shortage of cash. Thus, the emphasis in temple building relied heavily on temple renovations, which were seen as a better option to building an entirely new temple, particularly in an era when mostly larger temples had been built, especially in the Mormon corridor.

The Mesa Temple, before its current renovation began

Fortunately, these older temples escaped major renovations until the 1970s, when crowded conditions necessitated that something be done. It began in 1974 with the Mesa and St. George temples, which were closed in February and March of 1974, respectively. Both of these temples followed a similar remodel, with their creation, garden, and world rooms each becoming a stationary ordinance room. Theoretically, the murals on the walls could have been left intact (except for the front of the room, where the film would be shown), but it was decided that the murals made little sense without progression (technically true), and they were removed. In St. George, they were taken off and shipped to Salt Lake; in Mesa, the workers were specifically told that the murals would not be needed again, so they sometimes tore the mural off in pieces, destroying a lot of the art. The windows were tightly covered so that the film could be shown without light interference. In the case of St. George, an entirely new addition was built onto the west end to provide stairway access to the new ordinance rooms. Both of these temples were rededicated in 1975.

The St. George Temple's renovation added to the original temple's west side, as well as a new annex to the north

Next up was the Laie Hawaii Temple, which closed in May 1976. Apparently, temporary arrangements were already in place here for the filmed endowment--likely with a projector being set up in the rooms--but this renovation made it permanent, also taking away the progression of the temple.

The Laie Temple Renovation greatly expanded the original temple, which was very small

The most drastic change came to the Logan Temple. This was, in part, because of the Logan Temple's floor plan. The Laie, Mesa, and St. George Temples all had very slight elevation differences in their ordinance rooms, meaning that there were usually only a few stairs, if any, between rooms. This made it fairly simple to convert the ordinance rooms into stationary rooms, since they found a way to have patrons access the terrestrial room from whichever ordinance room they were in.

In the Logan Temple, this was all but impossible, because the ordinance rooms began on the first floor and ended on the third. There was simply no way to convert the creation or garden rooms into stationary rooms, because patrons would have no way of accessing the terrestrial room and the veil into the celestial rooms. This was the dilemma that Church architect Emil Fetzer encountered in 1974, the same year that St. George and Mesa closed, when he was asked to modify the Logan Temple. He eventually proposed removing all of the interior divisions so that he could form his own floor plan. This was submitted in February 1975, to the dismay of the First Presidency, who asked for additional time to consider the plan. It was approved in August 1975. In 1977, the temple closed, and by 1979 the new temple was completed. (It should be noted that even with an entirely new floor plan, the temple still uses a veil room. The temple's shape simply does not allow for multiple rooms to have convenient access to one celestial room.)

The Logan Temple during its gutting and renovation

The Logan Temple probably represented the peak of architecturally insensitive remodeling for the Church's temples. Idaho Falls, Cardston, and Manti kept their historic architecture, probably because they simply did not have the same crowds to require a drastic renovation during this time period. Idaho Falls had a renovation in the early 1970s, but no work was done in the ordinance rooms. Indeed, the Manti Temple closed for renovations only 2 years after the Logan Temple was rededicated, in 1981-85, and--in direct contrast to Logan--it was beautifully preserved. Cardston also had a lovely, sensitive renovation done in 1989-91. The Salt Lake Temple did have a major project done in the 1960s, but it wasn't changed to the film version--either because of its landmark status or because it was deemed unnecessary.

In 1980, the Church announced that new temples would use a standard, efficient plan that would reduce the costs of building them around the globe. The Los Angeles Temple began to use a stationary presentation of the endowment, even as it kept its progression rooms. The stationary presentation of the endowment had become the ordinance that the vast majority of Church members were now experiencing, void of any room-to-room progression at all. It would take another 2 decades for this to begin to once again change.