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.

Cardston 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)

While I was tempted to write a post on the Cardston Temple years ago, I wanted to hold off until I had actually attended the temple myself so that I could experience it. This past summer, I was finally able to make the trip up to Cardston and attend the temple.

The temple, designed by Pope and Burton (and selected in a competition), rises above the city and the plains of southern Alberta as if it were some type of fortress. It's a lovely building. In my opinion, the Manti and the Cardston Temples are the two best examples of Mormon architecture in temples--especially in their preservation.

Symbols on the sidewalk outside the temple

The temple has been expanded significantly since its dedication in 1923, but the original rooms have been very well preserved. Upon entering the temple, patrons encounter a plaque with a poem by Orson F. Whitney that was written for the temple's dedication.

Inside the lobby is the original bas-relief of The Woman at the Well, by Torlief Knaphus. This was originally on the exterior of the temple, but it's now a part of the lobby. A large pool of water is still located at the base of the relief, and patrons go around this pool to get to the recommend desk.

As we get into the interior of the temple, I have collected images from a variety of sources: the August 1962 Improvement Era, the August 1974, July 1977, and July 1978 Ensign, and the 1991 copy of Canadian Architect to document this temple. Most of these images were available online in some form, but I found the originals and scanned them to get better-quality pictures.

The temple's floor plan is symbolic in and of itself. In the center of the original building is the baptistry (on the main floor) and the celestial room (on the upper floor). Around the baptistry are located the locker rooms and auxiliary functions; around the celestial room are the ordinance rooms of the endowment.

Cardston Temple Cutaway Sections (Image Source: Canadian Architect)

Starting with the first floor, patrons enter and go to locker rooms on either side of the baptistry. These locker rooms also have direct access to the baptistry, if needed. Patrons change, then go to the chapel, which also has a door at the front which leads to the baptistry.

Cardston Temple First Floor; north is up (Image Source: Canadian Architect)

The baptistry looks beautiful. Its oxen were also done by Torlief Knaphus. Knaphus is reported to have stated that he judged the baptismal font in the Alberta Temple to be his favorite font creation.

On the four sides of the walls are paintings done by A.B. Wright. He was a professor of art at the University of Utah. These paintings are show different dispensations, including those of Adam, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith. Plaques are beneath each painting. I've included each painting and its name below. There is a line down the middle from the page fold in the Ensign. You can click on the painting to see more of its details!

A note on the pictures of the murals: I was able to scan them using a hi-res scanner, but there's a line down the middle from the page fold. You can find line-free images of the paintings here, but the image is much smaller, and you can't see many of the details.

Adam Offering Sacrifice

Moses Leads Israel

The Baptism of Jesus Christ

Detail from The Baptism of Jesus Christ

Divine Authority Restored

Meanwhile, patrons in the chapel are also enjoying three panels done by A.B. Wright that line the walls; each depicting a scene and scripture from the Book of Mormon. On the left (north) side of the room, Mosiah 15 depicts Abinadi preaching to the people:

Mosiah 15

On the right (south) side, 2 Nephi 24:24 shows Nephi offering sacrifice:

2 Nephi 24:24

And at the front of the room (east side), 3 Nephi 18 shows Christ administering the sacrament in the new world. The curtains behind the pulpit are no longer there; now it's just a door.

3 Nephi 18

When it's time for the session to begin, patrons go up the northwest stairwell, head east past some sealing rooms, on to the north side of the temple to the Creation Room.

I couldn't find a published plan of the Cardston Temple's upper floor(s), so I drew a rough sketch myself, based on my memory from doing one session there (meaning it's very rough). This is also hard to show on paper, because the rooms for the endowment take up two floors--the creation room is one full floor below the celestial room.

Cardston Temple Second Floor; north is left (east is up)

1 - Staircase that patrons ascend to begin the session
2 - Creation Room (on middle floor); Sealing Rooms (on top floor)
3 - Garden Room
4 - World Room
5 - Terrestrial Room (on top floor); Sealing Rooms (on middle floor)
6 - Celestial Room

As you can see, patrons, begin on the east side of the temple, and then go around the celestial room in a clockwise manner, ascending a small staircase between each room, until they enter the celestial room itself. The floor plan of this temple therefore reinforces the concept of progression taught in the endowment. Beautiful leaded glass windows are on the left (outer wall) of each room, and instead of curtains, blinds on the exterior automatically come down and close when the film is presented.

The ordinance rooms also reinforce this pattern as each room gets more and more ornate, culminating the celestial and sealing rooms. This usually means that the wood gets darker as you progress through the ceremony.

Wood finishing in ordinance rooms. Clockwise from top left: creation room, garden room, world room, terrestrial room

The first room, the Creation room, is done in oak. Previous creation rooms sought to envelope patrons in the creation process, as if they were there; this temple's style called for a different setting. LeConte Stewart did these murals in the pointillist style, with small dots of color that create a larger picture. These are beautiful, and I wish I had more pictures of each one. Beneath each panel in this room is an excerpt from the account of the creation in the scriptures. This is done very effectively.

In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth

And God Said, Let There Be Light

Let the Waters be Gathered Together--Let the Dry Land Appear

And God Made Two Great Lights: The Greater Light to Rule the Day

One of my favorites in this room was the paintings in the back corner of the room; one depicting the sun ("And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day") and another depicting the moon and stars ("and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also"). You can see the corner of this nighttime scene in the small picture depicting the wood finishing in the creation room above.

The Garden room was painted by Lee Greene Richards. Birds-eye maple is used in all of the finishings here. At the front of the room, two cylindrical spaces are present (originally used during the live endowment), reminiscent of the trees found in the Garden of Eden. In these pictures there are curtains behind the altar, but now (as in the creation and world rooms) it's double doors that open up.

As patrons progress to the World (or Telestial) room, they notice darker wood (South American walnut) and a higher barrel ceiling.

The murals here were done by Edwin Evans (a professor of the Department of Art at the University of Utah) and his assistant, Florence Christensen. They included local scenery in the murals including Old Chief Mountain, Yellow Mountain, and Cameron Falls. The animals in these murals depict life in a fallen world. On the right side, a fox and a wolf are ready to devour a young lamb. At the front, a snake devours one bird while its partner flies away; and a jaguar has killed an impala.

The Terrestrial Room is very well done. Curved benches face toward the altar at the front of the room.

Curved benches in the terrestrial room

The wood paneling is done in African Mahogany. Three panels here were done by LeConte Stewart, depicting scenes in the life of Christ. On the left (east) side of the room, Christ suffers in Gethsemane. On the right (west) side of the room, Christ is shown walking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And at the front of the room, above the veil, the resurrected Christ appears to Mary at the tomb. These are beautiful paintings, but I only have a picture of the front mural.

The Resurrected Lord Appears to Mary

Patrons then pass through the veil into the celestial room. The celestial room is in the center of the temple, with its ceiling higher than the other rooms, allowing leaded windows on all four sides. Each of the leaded windows has 144 small panes of glass, arranged in different colors and geometric patterns. This room is 40 feet square with a 36-foot ceiling. The richest wood yet, African mahogany, is used on the walls. I particularly loved the details on the ceiling, which you can barely see in this picture.

There are also three sealing rooms on this floor.

Patrons then exit on the east side of the room to return to the locker areas.

I really loved attending this temple. It's one of our finest examples of temple architecture and it's been really well preserved. If you're able, doing an endowment session here is a must--there's just so much to appreciate!