Comments on: The Mesa Arizona Temple Frieze

By: Left Field

Left Field — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 23:50:53 +0000

When they announced that they were going to add a Moroni to the building that houses the Manhattan Temple, I was horrified, sure that the building was going to get the same Moroni Flagpole that Hong Kong did. However, it turned out that they added a tower, and did a pretty good job of making it look as if it belonged there.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:30:52 +0000

Ack, how could I forget St. George (same category as Manti and Logan)?!! Left Field is of course right about the retrofitting of temples with reproduction statues. Even more right about the "out of placeness" of the statues at Hong Kong and Vernal. And I'm going to use this opportunity to promote an old post about the Angel Moroni at Los Angeles with kudos for being an original sculpture rather than a mechanical copy.

By: Left Field

Left Field — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:24:25 +0000

Until the 1980s, a statue of Moroni on temples was the exception rather than the rule. Of the first 20 temples dedicated, only three (Salt Lake, Los Angeles, and Washington) had a statue. (Nauvoo did have a horizontal angel weather vane.) In fact, the first group of small temples in the 1980s (Samoa, Atlanta, etc.) were also planned and announced without statues, and it was decided at some point during construction to start putting statues on all the temples, including the smaller ones.

They have recently added statues to a number of these older temples, but some (St. George, Logan, Manti, Hawaii, Alberta, Mesa) have an architectural style for which a statue would be very much out of place. (Not that that stopped them from putting one on Hong Kong and Vernal, though). A few years ago, the Friend published a drawing of the Manti Temple with a Moroni added to the west tower. Yuk.

Personally, I’m pleased to have been married in a sealing room with no mirrors, in a temple with no Moroni. I’m just that kind of nonconformist.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 20:39:41 +0000

Rebecca, the architecture of the Laie, Mesa, and Cardston temples, all designed in the same era, was simply of a different style that did not include spires. They were meant to evoke a sense of Mayan architecture, or some say, of Solomon’s temple. The Manti and Logan temples likewise have no Moroni statues on their towers.

While Moroni statues were added to many existing temples late in the 20th century, the church decided not to alter the architecture of these few historic temples to accommodate statues. The absence is purely an architectural/aesthetic thing; it has no other meaning.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 20:22:06 +0000

Does anyone know why there is no spire or Moroni on the Mesa Temple? Thanks

By: Alison

Alison — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:43:44 +0000

There’s also an article by Paul Anderston on the Cardston Temple at http://tinyurl.com/nqgqhu

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:27:37 +0000

Paul Anderson has written some articles on the Mesa, Hawaii, and Cardston temples (here, here, and here). He notes that church leaders decided to go without spires to avoid what they viewed as unnecessary expense, and the architects were influenced by F.L. Wright's style.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:41:02 +0000

Some of the chapels and tabernacles built in the Mormon corridor in the early 20th century also use the boxy, spireless style. I think that was simply one of the modern, popular styles for public buildings in that generation (modified to incorporate those “touches of Meso-American temple styling” for Mormon taste, but still basically a popular building pattern.) Some of the “Latter-day Saint Images” collections from those years (check the “Topical Guide” at the top of the sidebar) have shown chapels, like the 1918 Brooklyn chapel, and one in the Northwest (Portland?) that have quite a bit of architectural similarity to those three temples.

(Some reader who knows more than I do undoubtedly could tell us the name of that style.)

By: Steve C.

Steve C. — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:12:04 +0000

One additional comment about these three temples (and I will also include the Idaho Falls temple because it fits into a general building trend) and that is these temples were the first built in the 20th century and were the first outside of Utah, though they were built in areas with a significant LDS population. The next round of temple building in the 1950s/60s was completely out of the traditional LDS strongholds–i.e. Los Angeles; Bern, Switzerland; Hamilton, New Zealand; London; and Oakland, CA. (At the time there were not even organized stakes in Europe or New Zealand).

By: Steve C.

Steve C. — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:06:27 +0000

KaraLyn: According to the Church Almanac, the architects for the Cardston, Alberta and Laie, Hawaii temples were Hyrum C. Pope and Harold W. Burton. The Mesa temple was designed by Don C. Young and Ramm Hansen. The Mesa temple was the last of those three to be built as well. The Cardston and Laie temples were built primarily during the Joseph F. Smith administration (though both were dedicated after JFS’s death) whereas the Mesa temple was built during the H.J. Grant administration. The Cardston and Laie temples were designed based on a Grecian look with touches of Meso-American temple styling. The Mesa temple also had a pre-Columbian look as well as a hint of the temple of Herod. I’m not sure, however, why the Church built these temples without spires or why the Church went back to using spires on the temples.