From the Archives: The Los Angeles California Temple

This image of the nearly completed Los Angeles Temple appeared as number 17 in the 1955-56, Know Your City photography series.

The original caption in the Dec. 4, 1955, Los Angeles Times reported:

KNOW YOUR CITY, NO. 17 — This is the largest of its kind in the world. And its builders have come farther west than they originally intended. Brand new, this structure is not yet wholly finished. Figure on top is Angel Moroni. Answer on Page 22, Part 1A.

ANSWER: Captured from ground level in the photograph is the magnificent new Mormon Temple on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Los Angeles. Occupying an entire block, the temple and its grounds cost approximately $6,000,000 and constitute the religion's largest shrine, including the famous temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is incomplete only in that certain interior details are unfinished. …

The Los Angeles Temple was dedicated on March 11, 1956. The temple is now named the Los Angeles California Temple.

Expansions since 1955 of the Salt Lake Temple moved the “largest shrine” title back to Utah.

For more, check out the Temples of the Churches of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints website.

An earlier version of this post appeared on Oct. 5, 2015.