Sunday, October 9, 2011

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Temple Celestial Room Domes

The Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are spectacular. I really like the use of domes in temple celestial rooms.  Many recent temples have included them, in addition to some older temples.

Both the St. Louis Missouri and Preston England Temples have domes in their celestial rooms.  The temples share the same floor plan, so this isn't too surprising.  Other temples with this style likely have domes.  I know that Boston has a small dome at the end of the room.  If I recall correctly it has clouds painted in a fake oculus.
St. Louis Missouri Temple Celestial Room
Preston England Temple Celestial Room

The first style of small temple had a few mentionable domes.  The Brisbane Australia Temple has a dome with cloud and sky scene and the Snowflake Arizona Temple has an elliptical dome with a sunburst pattern.  These temples are often criticized for being cookie-cutter.  The domes help add some garnish to the very nice cookies.

Brisbane Australia Temple Celestial Room Dome
Snowflake Arizona Temple Celestial Room Dome
The next style of small temple shared a common floor plan that almost always included a celestial room dome.  These temples were given many architectural distinctions to make them much less cookie-cutter.  The temple domes are differentiated with unique, detailed patterns.  All of these temples have a lot of detail.  I wasn't able to find pictures of them all, but here are the ones I could get:
Apia Samoa Temple Celestial Room Dome
Newport Beach California Temple Celestial Room Dome
Redlands California Temple Celestial Room Dome
Sacramento California Temple Celestial Room Dome
San Antonio Texas Temple Celestial Room Dome
The Draper Utah Temple was also given a dome.  I'm pretty sure this is a faux dome, painted to look like a dome.  It is really high up in the room so it is hard to tell, but I think the ceiling is actually flat or only very slightly curved.  The shading makes it look curved and makes it appear to be a dome.  I'm fine with that.  I also love the ring of Sego Lilies (Utah's state flower, which also fed starving pioneers) around the perimeter.
Draper Utah Temple Celestial Room Dome
Several older temples also have domes.  The Sao Paulo Brazil Temple has a dome with nice gold.  I don't know if this dome is original, or if it was added during a recent remodel.  I think it may be glass, but am unsure.
Sao Paulo Brazil Temple Celestial Room Dome
Other temples have had domes added.  For instance, the Boise Idaho Temple had a stained glass dome installed in its celestial room.  Pictures can be seen here.  From what I've seen. a lot of the six spire sloped roof 1980s temples had a central celestial room with an octagonal dome.  I've only seen Dallas' in person.  I liked it.

The Jordan River Utah Temple has an oval dome.  It is really simple with just some texture added like you sometimes see on vaulted ceilings in homes.  The Provo Utah and Ogden Utah Temple both have domes in their celestial rooms.  At least one of them is a dome with numerous ribs and a nice pattern.

The Orlando Florida Temple has a glass dome in its celestial room that can be seen here.

The Rexburg Idaho Temple has an elliptical dome with a wheat pattern painted on it.

I'm sure other temples have domes.  Please comment and let us know about other interesting Latter-day Saint Temple celestial room domes, or what you think about these.

8 comments:

Brett Stirling said...

Totally agree, the domes are a great addition to the Celestial Room. The massive amount of light that you now find in them is an absolute delight. It really sets it apart not only in the temple but in general.

Slim said...

I was in the Provo Temple yesterday and noticed the dome in the celestial room. I really liked the ribs in it giving the dome more depth and texture.

tolman said...

You need to add a picture of the salt lake temple dome room hear. Or at least do a post on that room

Ryan said...

MORE UPDATES PLEASE!! Do you have any way to get a hold of alternate plans for temples? Like, what competing designs may have been, things that were changed, etc? I know temples like newport beach and vancouver looked one way in the original renderings and then plans changed. I would think there are other examples like that.

Scott said...

I've been on vacation. I'll add a post soon.

Scott said...

I posted a picture of the dome room months ago on the Holy of Holies post. It was added after the original post so you may not have seen it at first. It is definitely there now (and is the only picture I've seen of the room)

Chad said...

I've been noticing with the Ogden remodel that the spire appears somewhat hollow above the circular hold in the roof (I'm pretty sure the center of that temple is the celestial room.) It could be quite an interesting change to have an open spire.

etnalblip said...

The Seattle and Washington DC temples have domes in their celestial rooms. The Seattle Temple's dome has a square base rather than a round one, so it may not technically be a dome, but I don't know what else to call it.