San Diego California Temple Wiki

Description

The San Diego California Temple, the 45th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will close in July 2023 for extensive renovations.

History

Latter-day Saints, have lived in San Diego for nearly 166 years. On 29 January 1847, the soldiers of the Mormon Battalion entered San Diego, completing the longest infantry march in the history of the United States Army. Recruited to help secure California in the Mexican War, these pioneers left their wives and children and marched more than 2,000 miles from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to the Presidio of San Diego. After the Mexican War, some members of the Mormon Battalion settled in California.

Announcement

On April 7, 1984, President Gordon B. Hinckley, then a member of the Church’s First Presidency, made the exciting announcement that a temple would be built in San Diego.

Groundbreaking

After suffering a mild heart attack four months earlier, President Ezra Taft Benson made his first trip outside the Salt Lake Valley to break ground and dedicate the site for the San Diego California Temple on 27 February 1988. It was his first time presiding over a temple groundbreaking.

Installation of Angel Moroni Statue

On Monday, 23 December 1991, the 186th anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith, a gilded statue of the angel Moroni was installed atop the eastern spire of the San Diego California Temple. Shortly after the setting, a traveling flock of seagulls—a bird of symbolic significance to the Church—circled the new statue about three times before continuing on its course.

Open House

Over 720,000 visitors attended the widely publicized open house for the San Diego California Temple. Tours of the temple were offered for six weeks. During the open house, the Church piloted a new program that taught visitors about the temple by providing an exhibit, a video presentation and a brochure before they toured the building. Over 90 percent of visitors of other faiths who were surveyed said that they had a positive experience. This type of presentation was later used at the open houses of several other temples.

Dedication

Due to President Benson’s ailing health he was unable to preside at the dedication of the San Diego California Temple. President Gordon B. Hinckley, First Counselor in the First Presidency, was assigned to dedicate the temple.

President Hinckley conducted 13 sessions, including the cornerstone session, while President Monson conducted 10 sessions. In 23 sessions 25–30 April 1993 where 49,273 persons attended.

President Hinckley cautioned the members to never lose sight of the purpose of temples, “the whole purpose is to provide a place where we can worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience, exercise the priesthood that has been restored in its fullness and receive the blessings that are administered only in these holy houses.”

During the dedicatory prayer, President Hinckley thanked God for the “hundreds of thousands of men and women of various faiths and philosophies [who] had the opportunity of walking through this sacred house” and asked that “an attitude of respect and reverence grow within them.” He continued, “May very many of them be stirred to seek and learn the truths of thy restored work that they too might become eligible to enjoy the blessings offered herein.”^[1]Gordon B. Hinckley, “San Diego California Temple Dedicatory Prayer,” Ensign, July 1993, 77.

While presiding, President Monson encouraged the young people to prepare themselves to enter the house of the Lord and to remember how they feel when they enter. “Make the temple part of your lives. The temple can bring you the supreme feeling of peace.”

During the last session he conducted, President Hinckley said, “God has provided opportunities for His children to partake of something that is far sweeter than what is available in mortality.”

Dedication Order

The San Diego California Temple is the 47th constructed and 45th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was the third temple built in California, following the Los Angeles California Temple (1956) and the Oakland California Temple (1964).

Honors

The San Diego California Temple was honored as Headliner of the Year for 1993 in the landmark category by the San Diego Press Club.

For its efforts during the open house of the San Diego California Temple to increase public awareness of the Church and the role of the temple, the Church was presented with the Public Relations Society of America’s prestigious Silver Anvil Award in the category of special events and observances by non-profit organizations.

Renovation

On 17 April 2023 the Church announced that the San Diego California Temple would close for an extensive renovation.

Closure

31 July 2023, the San Diego California Temple will close for extensive renovations.

During the closure, members of the Church in Southern California are encouraged to attend other temples in the area.^[2]”News for Temples in Japan and California,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints News Release, 17 Apr. 2023.

Open House

A public open house and rededication will be announced following the completion of the renovation.

Rededication

Presidents and Matrons

Temple President	Temple Matron	Years Served
James Parker Little	Kay Marie Evans Little	2020–
Kenneth Allen Ellsworth	Jeraldene Lisonbee Ellsworth	2017–2020
Dirk Orme Jergensen	Laurie Lane Zwick Jergensen	2014–2017
Gordon Michael Finnigan	Karen Germaine Roberts Finnigan	2011–2014
Bruce Lloyd Olsen	Christine Payne Olsen	2008–2011
David Eugene Sorensen	Verla Anderson Sorensen	2005–2008
Alvin George Clawson	Sandra Lou Knox Clawson	2002–2005
Joe Junior Christensen	Barbara Kohler Christensen	1999–2002
John Clifford Wallace	Elaine Jensen Wallace	1998–1999
Clinton Devell Davis	Carmen Shumway Davis	1995–1998
Floyd Lamonde Packard	Alice Earl Packard	1992–1995

Details

Location

Located on a 7.2-acre landmark at 7474 Charmant Drive, near the La Jolla community of San Diego, and adjacent to the main thoroughfare between San Diego and Los Angeles, the San Diego temple reaches 190 feet in the air. Every day, tens of thousands of cars travel the freeway and see the temple with its gleaming white exterior.^[3]”45th Temple Dedicated: Dream becomes reality as temple is dedicated”, LDS Church News, May 1993

Exterior

The temple is 85 feet wide, 190 feet long. Twin 169-foot spires soar heavenward, each surrounded by four smaller spires. The East spire is topped with a gold-leafed statue of the Angel Moroni.

With an exterior composed of white marble chips in stucco, the edifice fairly glows.

Grounds

The public is invited to tour the manicured temple grounds and a visitors’ center honoring the San Diego Mormon Battalion, located 10 miles south of the temple in Old Town San Diego.

The best noncommercial display of Christmas lights in the San Diego region is perhaps the one that surrounds the 22-year-old San Diego California Temple, a tradition that has been celebrated since 2008.

The director of grounds and lights within the Sights and Sounds of Christmas Committee, Ken Carr, commented, “It’s a big undertaking. More than 3,000 individual strings of lights totaling over 150,000 lights plus wreaths, stars and a Nativity are set up by 300-plus young adults (ages 18-30) from throughout the San Diego area.” He estimates that it takes approximately 2,500 hours to create the magic and the wonder each year, with work done Saturdays beginning in October and finished by late November in time for the official lighting the day after Thanksgiving.

Carr told Times of San Diego that the reason that Mormons work so hard on the lights and music is because they want “to let their friends and neighbors know that they are Christian — that they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of the world and that He is the center of their religion. They hope to provide a welcoming, peaceful and sacred environment for anyone who wants to come during this most spiritual of seasons.”

The grounds stay lighted through New Year’s Day.

Interior

The unique and one off design of the 72,000 square foot sacred edifice consists more than 100 rooms. Among those are four stationary ordinance rooms and eight sealing rooms.

Geometrically patterned ceilings and suspended light fixtures infuse rooms with indirect light. White marble and gold leafing contribute to the sense of warmth, and natural light sparkles as it filters in through soaring patterned windows. The higher patrons ascend, the greater the light.

In the western tower, a magnificent two-story celestial room, intended to symbolize heaven on earth, opens to the top of the spire. A self-supported grand spiral staircase fills the other tower.

Connecting the towers at the center is a supernal star-shaped atrium filled with a healthy, colorful garden. The atrium is accessed from the breathtaking two-story Celestial Room.^[4]”45th Temple Dedicated: Dream becomes reality as temple is dedicated”, LDS Church News, May 1993

Contractors

The architects for the temple were William S. Lewis, Jr., design architect; Dennis Hyndman, project architect; and Shelly Hyndman, interior design architect. he Hyndmans are Roman Catholics and have designed over a dozen Catholic churches. They had not toured the interior of a Latter-day Saint temple until the Las Vegas Nevada Temple open house commenced in 1989. Asked to find a style for the temple that was native to San Diego, Dennis Hyndman said, “We decided, what is San Diego except light, good weather and sun?”^[5]Tony Perry, “Mormon Temple Rises above Ordinary, “ Los Angeles Times, Jan. 1993.