Laie Hawaii Temple - Architecture

Architecture

Church President Joseph F. Smith wanted the architecture of the Laie Hawaii Temple to resemble Solomon's Temple referred to in the biblical canon. The temple is often compared to the Cardston Alberta Temple, designed by young architects Hyrum Pope and Harold W. Burton. Pope and Burton's design was also used for Laie, and their work is rooted in the Prairie style architecture made popular by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the early twentieth-century. The temples also evoke Mesoamerican architectural motifs, a favored theme of Burton's.

The temple sits on an 11-acre (4.5 ha) site that was once part of a large sugarcane plantation. Construction of the temple first began in February 1916. Native materials consisting of crushed lava rock were used to build the temple, along with reinforced concrete. The building's gleaming white finish was created using pneumatic stone-cutting techniques. The temple has the shape of a cross when seen from the air; the highest point of the temple is 50 ft (15.2 m), and it measures 102 ft (31.1 m) from east to west and 78 ft (23.8 m) from north to south. The front exterior was designed in the form of a Greek cross, but lacks a tower, a rarity in LDS Church temples. Apart from the Laie Hawaii Temple, only two other church temples lack towers or spires: the Cardston Alberta Temple and the Mesa Arizona Temple.

The exterior of the temple exhibits four large friezes planned by American sculptor J. Leo Fairbanks and built with the help of his brother Avard Fairbanks. Modeled four-fifths lifesize and cast in concrete, the bas-relief friezes depict God’s dealings with Man. The north frieze depicts the story of the Book of Mormon. The west frieze shows the people of the Old Testament. The New Testament and the Apostasy are depicted on the southern frieze of the temple, and the restoration of the Church through Joseph Smith is shown on the east frieze. On the grounds of the temple are statues also designed by the Fairbanks brothers, including Joseph being blessed by his father and one of the Prophet Lehi in a scene from the Second Book of Nephi in the Book of Mormon.

As visitors approach the temple and pass a number of reflecting pools, a maternity fountain sits in front of the uppermost pool. Designed by the Fairbanks brothers, this bold relief honors Hawaiian Motherhood and depicts a Hawaiian mother holding a giant clam shell while pouring water over her children. The act is supposed to symbolize mothers pouring their love, hope and care onto their children.

The landscaped temple grounds contain tropical gardens, with plants such as hibiscus, Brazilian plume, birds of paradise, lantana, red ginger, bougainvillea, plumeria, Ixora, and others. At the base of the temple grounds is a fountain separating an LDS Family History Center and a Visitors' Center, where a ten-foot sculpture replica of Bertel Thorvaldsen's Christus stands inside the entrance.

The Laie Hawaii Temple is 47,224 square feet (4,387.3 m2) and houses four ordinance rooms and six sealing rooms. Landscape artist LeConte Stewart designed many of the murals found inside the temple.