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Temple Dedication:
March 11, 1956 by David O. McKay
Location:
10777 Santa Monica Blvd.; Los Angeles, California (atop a hill near Westwood
Village, two miles west of Beverly Hills)
Site:
Stands on 13 of the original 24.23 acres purchased from the Harold Lloyd
Motion Picture Company on March 23, 1937, by President Heber J.Grant.
Exterior
Finish: Covered with 146,000 square feet of Mo-Sai stone facing,
a mixture of crushed quartz and white Portland cement quarried in Utah
and Nevada. The wainscot around the exterior is Rockville granite from
Minnesota.
Temple Design:
Modern single spire design.
Number of
Rooms: Four ordinance rooms and ten sealing.
Total Floor
Area: 190,614 square feet.
Current Temple
Schedule: Los
Angeles Temple Schedule
Dedicatory
Prayer Excerpt: "This edifice, as eleven other temples dedicated
to Thy holy name, is a magnificent monument testifying to the faith and
loyalty of the members of Thy Church in the payment of their tithes and
offerings. Not only the building of temples is thus made possible in different
parts of the world, but also the proclaiming of the restored gospel, and
the carrying out of Thy purposes by the building of chapels, tabernacles,
and recreation halls wherever needed by churches organized in many lands
and climes. In this respect, we invoke Thy blessing particularly upon Thy
people and their friends in this temple district who have so willingly
and generously contributed their means, time, and effort to the completion
of this imposing, impressive house of the Lord. May each contributor be
comforted in spirit and prospered a hundredfold!"
Comments:
Following World War I, many Chruch members moved to California to
find better employment opportunities. They were anxious for the time when
a temple would be in their midst. As Church membership continued to mushroom
in southern California, it became apparent that a temple should be erected
there. President Heber J. Grant personally participated in the search for
a temple site in Los Angeles. He was there for an entire month early in
1937 for that very purpose. A short time later on March 6th, the announcement
was made that the Church had purchased a twenty-four-acre parcel of land
on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles from the motion picture actor
Harold Lloyd for $175,000. President Grant was enthusiastic about the purchase.
He later told President J. Reuben Clark that "we have the best site in
the entire country"; he planned to contribute at least $2,500 himself.
The Saints excitedly urged that work be started immediately on the
temple. However, the First Presidency wisely sent a letter just two weeks
after the announcement reminding the Saints that "the Lord has sometimes
in the past delayed the beginning of the work of building a temple . .
. that people might come to an adequate appreciation of the spiritually
high purpose toward which their efforts were directed." A group of architects
were assigned and prelimanary plans were made, but World War II brought
planning to a halt. The Saints would indeed wait patiently for their temple.
On January 17, 1949, President George Albert Smith,
the new president of the Church, announced to a group of southern California
Church leaders that the time had arrived to build the temple. President
Smith appointed Edward O. Anderson, a member of the pre-war committee,
to be the sole architect for the temple. Because of the large increase
of membership in California, President Smith also directed that the design
be altered to accomodate three hundred rather that two hundred
persons per session. Such alterations would make this the largest temple
that the Church had ever built up to that time exceeding the size of even
the Salt Lake Temple. By December 1950, the General Authorities had approved
the enlarged design for the Los Angeles Temple. It featured Mayan architecture
with plantings on the roof, around the large reflecting pool, and inside
of the building Due to the death of President Smith, groundbreaking was
delayed while the new first presidency was organized. Under his direction,
President David O. McKay turned the first spade of dirt. He had to "soften
it up" for the other authorities present who found the ground to be quite
hard. "Observing with an avid interest each phase of the work." During
one such trip, President McKay informed Edward O. Anderson and President
Benjamin L.Bowring (the newly appointed temple president) "that [the statue
of the Angel Moroni] was not correct in [its] position. He said that the
angel must face east. He asked Brother Anderson to have it adjusted so
that it would face due east" rather than southeast like the temple did.
The statue become an item of conversation in the neighborhood. One neighbor
chided that she "certainly never would be interested [in learning more
about the Church] until the angel faced her home." Then one morning she
awoke to discover the angel was indeed "looking directly at her place."
Another neighbor said that "she had a sense of security that she had never
felt before" since the angel on the spire watched over her home while her
husband was away on business trips. When the temple neared completion,
the grounds were beautifully landscaped with trees and plants from all
over the world. Inside, the large ordinance rooms featured beautiful murals.
The artist appointed to paint a mural of the Savior's baptism in the baptistry
came to President McKay
one day and said, "I cannot paint the Savior's face to my satisfaction.
I need to know his complexion and coloring." The prophet, without hesitation,
described the Savior's features to the artist. After years of struggle,
the temple was finally formally dedicated on March 11, 1956. It was dedicated
in eight beautiful sessions that were for the first time broadcasted from
the Celestial Room to other parts of the Temple.
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