Moroni and Strobes

Moroni and Strobes

Seattle Washington

Early plans for the Seattle Temple called for a 199-foot-tall spire, topped by a gilded statue of the Angel Moroni. Numerous complaints were raised about the design of the temple, many felt it was not a good design for the Northwest area. The city design commission requested that the temple be only 2 stories tall, and with an exterior more appropriate for the northwest scenery. [1]Dance, David O 1922-. Seattle Temple files, 1975-1986 , (accessed: August 2019)

Original Mounting point for the Seattle Angel Moroni (left,) and the more recent mounting (right.)

In the end, the temple the Church was allowed to build was very much the same as the one they proposed, with one legally mandated change. The site selected for the temple was just under 3,000 feet, (880 meters) to the west of the Bellevue Airfield. Because of the proximity to the temple, the height of the spire was lowered 20 feet to 179 feet tall.[2]Cowan, Richard O. (1997) [1989], Temples to Dot the Earth, Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort/CFI Distribution, p. 178, Instead of being 200 feet, with a 15-foot statue, it is instead, just under 200 feet total.

At the top of the spire, just under the ball for the angel statue, was placed a large box with 6 sides. On three of the faces were placed windows, behind which were red strobe lights, similar to the ones seen on radio towers.[3]“New Mormon temple won’t be run-of-the-mill church”. Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. August 9, 1980. p. 4B. Despite the temple being brightly lit each night, and the gleaming gilded statue above the box, the temple was still required to have aircraft collision warning lights.

The airfield was closed just three years after the temple’s dedication, and the strobing lights were shut off for good.

Around 2009, some cleaning and renovation work was done on the temple. At this time, the box was dismantled, and the spire completed under the sphere where to box used to be.[4]Observation through dated photographs.

Kyiv Ukraine

Seattle is not the only temple to have aerial collision lights installed. The temple in Kyiv Ukraine is just 1.8 miles (2.93 kilometers) from the Kyiv International Airport. The temple lies just north of the flight line running west from the airport’s runway. A few feet under the sphere is a disk wrapped around the center of the top of the spire. Atop that disk are three red flashing beacon lights, despite the well-lit temple and again, glistening gilded spire.

Recreation of the strobes on the Kyiv Ukrain Temple

Chapter 5 Navigation

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References

References
↑1 Dance, David O 1922-. Seattle Temple files, 1975-1986 , (accessed: August 2019)
↑2 Cowan, Richard O. (1997) [1989], Temples to Dot the Earth, Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort/CFI Distribution, p. 178,
↑3 “New Mormon temple won’t be run-of-the-mill church”. Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. August 9, 1980. p. 4B.
↑4 Observation through dated photographs.