Temple Materials - Brick

This is another installment on materials used in temples built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This time we are discussing brick.

You might ask what my opinion is on brick.  As a building material I hate it.  As an architectural material, I often like it.  I hate it as a building material because it is brittle, heavy, and hard to reinforce (sometimes impossible).  This is really bad if you are in an area with seismic concerns.  Brick also can look less permanent than stone, but it often looks enduring.  I actually like the temples that use brick.

The temple endowment was first given in the upper assembly room of Joseph Smith's red brick store in Nauvoo, Illinois.  Joseph realized that the temple wouldn't be completed before his death so he gave the ordinances to a select few there.  Because of this, brick temples can remind us of where the ordinances were first given.

Original plans for the Salt Lake Temple called for it to be made from adobe, a kind of brick.  This seems odd, as Brigham Young saw the temple in vision. You would think he would have insisted on the granite it was later built out of.  Well, the adobe used at the time was apparently the same grey color as the temple, which makes his vision make sense.  In this case, I am glad granite was chosen.

Johannesburg South Africa Temple

The Johannesburg South Africa Temple was the first completed out of brick.  It is made of brown brick and is one of the six spire sloped roof temples.  I think the brick gives it an 80s look, but not in a bad way.  The brick (a veneer really) is carefully laid and gives a very orderly, nice, neat look.  I also like how the white spires springing from their brick bases seem all the whiter next to brown brick.

Vernal Utah Temple

The Vernal Utah Temple and Copenhagen Denmark Temple are both made out of brick, and both are remodeled from existing structures - Vernal was an old tabernacle and Copenhagen was an old chapel.  I like how both of them are red, making them uniquely colored temples and reminding us of Joseph Smith's Red Brick Store.  The Vernal Temple has yellow-orange stone details around the windows and doors.

Copenhagen Denmark Temple

The Copenhagen Denmark Temple has a very orderly, stately look.  It is quite simple and reminds me of the Temple of Solomon.  I like that the red brick makes the light columns stand out.  I also like how the red in these temples can remind us of Christ and his sacrifice for us.

Other temples have brick beneath the surface such as the London England Temple which, according to ldschurchtemples.com is made of reinforced concrete on a structural steel skeleton with brick walls covered in white Portland limestone.



Although not brick, other temples use CMU (Concrete masonry units) which are better known as cinder block.  I used to have a bad impressing of CMU; however, they are a good building material.  In most cases they should be stuccoed or otherwise covered for aesthetic reasons.  I understand that the Twin Falls Temple is CMU with precast concrete panels covering the exterior.  The Hamilton New Zealand Temple is also CMU and apparently just painted.  I think a few others are CMU, particularly temples built in the 1970s and 1980s.  In most, if not all, of these cases the CMU is covered with stone, stucco, or some other material.  To be clear, CMU is not brick.  Brick is clay masonry.  CMU is concrete masonry.  Stone masonry also exists and is what the pioneer temples are made out of.

I like that a few temples are made out of brick.  I like the variety.  Still, I hope this material is only occasionally used.  Given the current history of brick in temples, it will probably be very rarely used and mainly used when a building is remodeled into a temple.

Colorful Temple Exteriors

White has become so synonymous with the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that we seem to forget the examples of temples that aren't white or any color remotely close to white.

The Kirtland Ohio Temple

Currently the Kirtland Ohio Temple is white (and not owned by the church).  Originally it had sparkling blue walls, a red roof, and green doors (the doors are still green).  Our first temple was clearly not white, but instead quite colorful.

The Logan Utah Temple

Today the Logan Temple is made of a dark brown stone.  Originally it was painted white (much like the St. George Utah Temple which is actually red sandstone stuccoed white).  The paint on the Logan Temple didn't weather very well and soon it looked horrible.  A decision was made to let the paint finish wearing off and to not repaint it.  This is how the temple is now with its dark brown walls.  The stone is really a nice color and contrasts nicely with the white towers (which are now fiberglass and not the original wood, if you wanted to know).  This also explains why the Logan Temple stones are somewhat rough cut and irregularly shaped blocks.  The builders thought the stones would always be covered.  Other temples such as Manti and Salt Lake have neatly arranged, fine cut, smoothed stone blocks because they were never intended to be painted.

The Vernal Utah Temple

The Vernal Temple is remodeled from the Uintah Stake Tabernacle which was made out of red brick.  Because of this the current temple is red.  White towers contrast nicely and add a touch of the familiar white usually symbolizing holiness. 

The Copenhagen Denmark Temple

The Copenhagen Temple is another temple remodeled from an existing building - this time a chapel.  The chapel was red brick, so the completed temple is also red brick and looks nice.  The red also makes details such as the front columns stand out.  I think this temple works, and the fact that it is red helps the temple's appearance in my opinion.

I find that the red is a wonderful symbol of the blood of Christ and the atonement in general.  All this red brick might also remind us that the first endowments were given in the upper floor of Joseph Smith's Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, Illinois before the Nauvoo Temple was completed.  Either way, I think that red is a wonderful color for a temple.

The Johannesburg South Africa Temple is made of brown brick which gives it a different look.

The last really colorful temple is the Newport Beach California Temple which is a nice pink color.  I like the look.  The color was a concession to neighbors that thought a white temple would have been too bright.  The temple is still really light colored, so I hesitate to list it with the above temples.  I suppose that the Albuquerque New Mexico Temple is also a pinkish hue.  There are other temples with slight shades of this color or that.  I don't need to list them all.  Most are kept really light, so the temples listed above are really the colorful ones.

Several other temples have dark accents.  The Fukuoka Japan Temple, for instance, has some dark stone.  The Snowflake Arizona Temple also has its first floor made out of darker stone than the lighter second floor.

That is the list of colorful temples (or temples that aren't white or light colored).  I don't think there are any others.  I like having temples white or light colors.  It is nice symbolism and is a nice look for these holy edifices.  Even so, there is something neat about these bolder temples with dark colors.  Maybe it is because they are so rare and unique.  Maybe it is because the white details on the temple seem so much brighter with darker details adding contrast.  There are probably many reasons.  I like how unique these temples are and wouldn't mind seeing a few more colorful or dark temples, even though I'd still prefer most temples to be light.

Please comment and let us know what you think.

Latter-day Saint Temple Murals - Pt 5 - Miscellaneous Murals

This is a continuation of my posts on Latter-day Saint Temple murals.  You can read the earlier posts by clicking on the links below:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Celestial Room Murals

After the LA Temple was completed, the endowment began to be presented on film, eliminating the need for murals in endowment rooms.  Because of this, murals stopped being used in endowment rooms until the 2000s.  Even so, between the 1950s and the early 2000s, a few temple murals were included.  These tended to be in hallways or lobbies.  Here is the list I was able to come up with:

The Washington D.C. Temple

Washington D.C. Temple Mural of the Second Coming of Jesus

The main lobby of this temple has a 30 foot long mural of the second coming of Jesus Christ.  The painting is probably familiar to you if you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It shows Christ coming and welcoming the righteous (living and newly resurrected dead people are portrayed) on his right hand, while the wicked despair and hide on his left hand side.  The Washington D.C. Temple is also painted into the mural.

The Jordan River Utah Temple
In the main lobby of the Jordan River Temple there is a mural of the Garden of Eden based on the LA Temple garden room mural.  You can see the LA Temple garden room mural in part 4 of my temple murals posts.


The Mexico City Mexico Temple

Mexico City Temple Lobby with Mural of Jesus Christ in 3 Nephi 11

This temple has a print of a famous painting of Jesus Christ coming to teach the Nephites in the Americas after his resurrection as recorded in 3 Nephi 11 in The Book of Mormon.  The print is in the main lobby.

The Ogden Utah Temple
This temple had a mural of Jesus Christ and some apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration.  I'm not sure if it was a print or an original, but it was large and striking in the main lobby.  I hope it is kept in the temple after the current remodel is completed.  This mural was also effective because the Mount of Transfiguration has been linked to the temple and multiple people (prophets and apostles) have said that this is likely where Peter, James, and John received their endowments.

Salt Lake Temple Annex
The new (added in 1960s) Salt Lake Temple Annex includes a chapel with murals on both the front and rear of the room.

The Bountiful Utah Temple

Bountiful Utah Temple Chapel

The chapel in this temple includes a print of part of a painting of Jesus Christ's second coming.  This is technically a mural as the room is planned around the piece and the piece is permanently applied to the wall.







The Vernal Utah Temple

Vernal Utah Temple Celestial Room

The same painting of Jesus Christ's Second Coming is used as a mural in the Vernal Utah Temple Celestial Room.










Baptistery Murals
There are many temple that have baptistery murals, but I am going to cover those not already covered in a separate post.

There is my list of miscellaneous Latter-day Saint Temple Murals from 1960 to 2000.  Surely I have missed some.  Please comment and let us know what you think, tell us of other murals I didn't know about, and discuss murals you would like to see.  While I am thrilled that temples have begun using endowment room murals again, I also like seeing these murals in various places in the temple.  I love how each temple is different, with random murals adding interesting variety.  Please Comment. 

Kansas City Temple design

I recently found an architectural rendering of the Kansas City Missouri Temple on ldschurchtemples.com (a wonderful site). The picture was just removed from the site today for some reason, but you can probably find it elsewhere.

The temple design showed a two towered (2 steeple) structure. I was very happy to see this. A lot of temples have the East side represent the Melchizedek Priesthood and the West side represent the Aaronic Priesthood. The Salt Lake Temple started this pattern, having 3 towers on the East and 3 on the West. Logan and Manti look like they have 2 towers (technically they have 2 smaller towers with staircases on either side of each main tower). The San Diego California Temple was the next two ended temple (technically 10 towered, but there are two main towers with 4 smaller towers around each main tower). Then the Vernal Utah Temple was made with 2 towers (I believe the original tabernacle the temple was made from had the two towers).

Recently the church has been building temples with a tower on one side and a small dome on the other end. I have thought that they should just add a second tower. I know building codes don't always allow two spires, but when possible, why not? I think two towers make a temple seem like a special building, not just a fancy church. It adds to the uniqueness of the architecture and adds symbolism.

The KC Temple design isn't perfect, but I like it. It reminds me of the Logan temple in several ways, with the 2 towers being the main one. I look forward to having it built