Washington D.C. Temple
The Washington D.C. Temple is the 16th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located in Kensington, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., and the Capital Beltway, it became the church's first temple east of the Mississippi River since the original Nauvoo Temple, completed in 1846. At, it is the church's third-largest temple. Construction was completed in 1974 at a cost of $15 million. More than 750,000 people attended a seven-week open house before its dedication.
Designed to blend mid-century modern elements with traditional temple architecture, it has six gold-tipped spires modeled after the Salt Lake Temple. The temple has no cathedral-like space; instead, most rooms have no windows. Standing tall, the temple's central eastern tower was the church's tallest at its dedication. It supports a gilded statue of the angel Moroni. The temple's wooded site was chosen to make it a landmark along the Capital Beltway, and traffic reports often refer to it as "the temple". Since 1978, the temple has hosted the annual Festival of Lights, drawing thousands to see live performances and millions of holiday lights, with a foreign ambassador as guest speaker each year. The temple is accessible to church members with a current temple recommend.
History
The plan to build the temple was announced on November 15, 1968, by church president David O. McKay. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on December 7, with Hugh B. Brown presiding, and attended by local church members and community leaders. Land clearing began May 28, 1971.The site
The temple is part of a 57-acre site along the Capital Beltway, purchased by the church in 1962. The 4,220 acres of property changed hands multiple times, and the site's long history has been described by the Deseret News as being "as American as the capital city itself". The land was inhabited off and on by Native Americans, then the land was owned by a series of European monarchs, beginning with King James I, by Charles I, to Cecilius Calvert, to Charles Calvert, until it was given to Colonel William Joseph, and the property became known as "Joseph's Park", after the owner.Parts of the land were sold off, and the remaining 3,182 acres was purchased by Daniel Carroll. Carroll's nephew John, built a chapel below the hill. The property later passed to Daniel Carroll's grandson, who built a home a mile from the current temple site. He renamed the property "the Highlands", and wore out the land growing tobacco on it. Civil War troops briefly occupied the land, although no battles occurred on the site. The edge of the property was never subjected to clear-cutting, so the old-growth forest remained in that area. The property eventually passed to Clarence Moore, who later died on the Titanic. His widow sold the estate, and after that the site passed between various companies and investors.
In September 1962, plans were underway to transform the site into a shopping center, with a supermarket, high-rises, and townhomes. However, during negotiations for the temple site, a personal connection developed between church representatives and the Jewish owners of the property, including David Bazelon. The owners, who were supportive of the Zionist movement, discarded a competing offer, and sold the land to the church at a discount, motivated by shared respect for religious history, temple building, and the sacred purpose of the temple.
Hotelier and prominent businessman J. Willard Marriott, a church member and former president of the Washington, D.C. Stake, was instrumental in selection of the site and its promotion to church leadership as a potential temple site. In 1968, Marriott, accompanied by other prominent Washington, D.C. area church members, including Milan Smith, met with McKay and the First Presidency in Salt Lake City in a bid to begin construction on the temple at the site. Marriott pledged half a million dollars towards the temple's construction.
A week after that meeting, McKay approved the proposal. The construction of the temple on the site was presented to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles the next day. The proposal met with some opposition from more conservative members of the body, particularly Mark E. Petersen and future church president Harold B. Lee. They objected to the location of the temple in an area with such a significant African American population as Washington, D.C. At the time the church had policies that limited the participation of Black people and faced considerable national opposition from civil rights advocates. Lee was concerned the temple site would attract protests from African Americans and favored an alternative site such as Valley Forge, Pennsylvania with fewer African American residents. The concerns of Lee and Petersen were overruled by McKay and construction proceeded.
To build the temple, 11 acres of the 52 acre site was cleared. The temple was designed by Keith W. Wilcox, Fred L. Markham, Henry P. Fetzer, and Harold K. Beecher, and Emil B. Fetzer. It was the church's first temple built east of the Mississippi River since the Nauvoo Temple, which was dedicated in 1846.
Construction and opening
Original cost estimates for the temple were about $15 million. Church members in the temple's district contributed about a third of the cost of construction, and members who would use the building were asked to raise about $4.5 million.When it opened, the temple served about 300,000 Latter-day Saints in 31 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, seven Canadian provinces, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic. Many sites important to early church history, such as Nauvoo, Palmyra, and Kirtland, are within the Washington D.C. Temple district. Before the groundbreaking ceremony and before the Capital Beltway was finished, the temple's location was moved to exactly align with the highway and thereby inspire curiosity about the faith.
On September 17, 1974, during the first week of an open house, government officials and diplomats from around the world were taken on tours of the building. First Lady Betty Ford, who attended, said that the temple was "one of great beauty and a great addition to our surroundings here in Washington". The open house was almost canceled at the last minute when a fire marshal required an emergency backup generator for the sprinkler system in case of a power outage. Harold Ranquist, a local member and Army Reservist, spent eight hours the day before the event using his military connections to find a generator. A generator was installed just 25 minutes before the open house began. Ranquist said, "That day, 30 tickets were committed to the various Colonels and Generals with whom I had spoken".
Church president Spencer W. Kimball held a news conference on the bridge of the temple, drawing more than 100 reporters and photographers. The open house continued for seven weeks, drawing more than 750,000 people. At a completion ceremony the church's First Presidency buried a time capsule with historical items near a corner of the temple. This included scriptures, copies of current newspapers, photos of church leaders, a replica of a statue of Brigham Young, and tickets from the dedication. Church president Spencer W. Kimball held ten dedicatory sessions between November 19 and 22, 1974, drawing about 4,200 people apiece. It became the church's 16th dedicated and operating temple.On August 23, 2011, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake knocked off the tops of four spires and shook loose several pieces of marble from the building's facade. Repairs were made the following month and no disruptions occurred in its normal operating schedule.
2018–2022 renovation
On February 23, 2017, the church announced that the temple would close in March 2018 for a three-year renovation to update furnishings and mechanical systems. The visitors' center remained open.In February 2020, as renovations neared completion, church officials announced a public open house from September 24 through October 31, with a rededication planned for December 13. But on June 17, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, officials postponed the events until large public gatherings were deemed safe. In July 2021, officials said the open house would take place from April 28 to June 4, 2022, and the rededication on June 19. In January 2022, they rescheduled the rededication to August and said the open house would be extended as needed.
The church put up banners in the city to promote the event; they recorded a virtual tour, led by Gary E. Stevenson and Dale G. Renlund, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. During the open house, more than 250,000 people visited the temple. The temple was rededicated by Russell M. Nelson in three sessions on August 14, 2022. At the time, the temple's district covered 38 stakes in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia.
Artwork
In 2022, John Scott's 1974 mural The Last Judgment in the temple's entryway was removed and replaced by His Return, an 8-by-12-foot mural depicting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was painted by Dan Wilson, a fine arts graduate from Utah Valley University who said he was inspired by Carl Bloch. Drawing on spiritual practices such as fasting and priesthood blessings, Wilson spent 2,000 hours painting the piece, expanding the number of angels from 120 to over 300 and increasing their ethnic diversity.Other artworks commissioned for the 2022 renovations aimed to reflect the church's diverse global membership, aligning with church president Nelson's temple expansion initiative, according to church historian Emily Utt. Paintings by Elspeth Young—With a Sincere Heart, The Pure in Heart, He Restoreth My Soul, and And Thou Didst Hear Me—portray figures of diverse ethnicities, including a Filipino woman, a Mestizo woman from Mexico, and an African American woman in prayer.