Laie Temple

Note: This is one of a series of posts on the interiors and floor plans of historic temples:
1. St. George Temple (1877)
2. Logan Temple (1884)
3. Manti Temple (1888)
4. Salt Lake Temple (1893)
5. Laie Temple (1919)
6. Cardston Temple (1923)
7. Mesa Temple (1927)
8. Idaho Falls Temple (1945)

It has been months (and in some cases, years) since I've done posts on most of the temples in the Historic Temples series. I finally decided to write one on the Laie Hawaii Temple, with the disclaimer that I haven't yet visited this temple. I would love to see it. However, I have done some study on the history and architecture of the temple, and again, I've compiled a bunch of photos that show the temple's interior. Many of these photos were available after the temple's 2010 rededication. I've also learned a lot more about the history of the temple with The Laie Hawaii Temple: A Century of Aloha by the Religious Studies Center at BYU.

In 1915, the Cardston Temple's construction was underway. President Joseph F. Smith, who had a close connection to the Hawaii Islands (having served there in his youth as a missionary), visited the Church plantation site at Laie and dedicated a spot for the temple. He asked the architects of the Cardston Temple, Pope and Burton, to build a smaller version of the Cardston Temple at Hawaii.

Pope and Burton realized that the landscape was very different in Hawaii (rock, mountains, ocean) than in Cardston (rolling hills and plains). They adapted the plan very well, making it a simpler design, adding huge gardens and walkways so that the building didn't seem dwarfed by its landscape, and changing the exterior to be made of concrete using crushed local volcanic rock, then pained to creamy white. It gives the temple a wonderful appearance.

(Image Source)

The exterior has some wonderful features. Most notable are the friezes that decorate the outside. These are also visible in the temple's waiting room. (They were in the chapel, but it was decided to move them here where people could study them closely.)

Leo and Avard Fairbanks were originally approached about the idea of having small panels on the upper part of the temple showing subjects from Church history. They decided to make the design much larger, with one frieze for each dispensation: The Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the Latter-day Dispensation.

Latter-day Dispensation, East Side

Nephite (Book of Mormon) Dispensation, North Side

New Testament Dispensation, South Side

Old Testament Dispensation, West Side

Each person on the frieze is a specific character. The BYU Studies Journal published a wonderful article on the Laie Temple that includes a detailed breakdown of each frieze. You can find it here, beginning on page 160.

The temple's basic floor plan mirrors that of Cardston. The baptistry and celestial room are both in the center of the temple, while the other ordinance rooms of the endowment are in the wings of the temple, progressing in a circular motion. I've done a drawing, but the Church also has a cutaway model of the temple that helps you visualize where everything is, and I've included photos from that.

The baptistry is on the main floor of the temple.

The baptistry has some wonderful features. The oxen were carved by Avard Fairbanks. Alma B. Wright, an art professor, painted the murals here. These are a series of lunettes, seven in total, each depicting different principles and ordinances of the gospel, as depicted in the Bible or Book of Mormon.

The lunettes are titled Receiving Priesthood Blessing, Administering to the Sick, Jesus Baptized by John the Baptist, Preaching the Gospel, Alma Rebuking Corianton, Baptism, and Healing the Blind.

Baptism and Unknown

Unknown, Jesus Baptized by John the Baptist, and Receiving Priesthood Blessing

 There is also some beautiful stained glass in the baptistry, but I believe that was added in the most recent renovation.

You will also notice that the concrete walls here have been scored to give the appearance of large blocks stacked upon each other. This was intentional, and is present in the hallways as well, to give the small temple the feeling of being part of a large and established structure.

Patrons who come for an endowment session first come into the temple's chapel before going upstairs to the creation room directly above.

There was some drama around the painting of the murals. Originally, Fritz E. Weberg--who painted the murals in the Salt Lake Temple's creation room the year before--was sent, along with Lewis A. Ramsey. Weberg apparently showed some instability and was sent home, to his dismay. (He spent some time in the state mental hospital, but later recovered and painted the creation room in the Mesa Arizona Temple). Meanwhile, Ramsey painted the murals for the creation, garden, and world rooms, but his paintings were mounted directly on the walls, and moisture problems led to mildew and deterioration. (Sketches of these murals were preserved in the Church History Library.)

So LeConte Stewart came in and painted the creation and world rooms. In the creation room, he decided to paint six murals, each one framed and depicting a different day of creation. He had to get this idea approved by the first presidency.

 In the garden room, LeConte painted a traditional green and verdant scene.

Meanwhile, Alma B. Wright, after finishing his baptistry paintings, painted the world room, depicting mountains, stormy landscapes, and fighting animals.

The terrestrial room has no murals, but it's lovely.

Finally, patrons pass into the celestial room. Beautiful windows line all four sides, depicting an abstract version of the tree of life. Most of the windows in the temple could originally open (to catch a breeze).

The temple originally had 3 sealing rooms, all on this floor, to the east of the celestial room (just above the creation room). The middle one was the most elaborate, "used for the highest of Temple ordinance." This means that it also serves as the temple's holy of holies.

Like all other historic temples, the Laie Temple has some major remodelings. In the 1950s, the temple was painted a soft shade of green, which was "shock for most who saw it," but fortunately, that layer of paint faded over the next couple of years, and the original white shone through. A major renovation took place in the 1970s. In that renovation, the film session was added to the temple, and all of the ordinance rooms were used as stationary endowment rooms, with patrons going to the terrestrial room at the end to proceed to the celestial room.

However, the temple underwent another extensive renovation in 2008-2010, and this one restored much of the temple's original features. Patrons now use the progressive ceremony, while still using the film (similar to the presentation in Idaho Falls, Los Angeles, and Nauvoo temples). 

I really like the Laie Temple. It is perhaps the simplest of the historic temples, but it still has exquisite detail, and it fits in with its setting.