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Why are Mormon temples so ugly?

SiroMar said:
What a great advice. I'll make sure I'll study Hebrew scholars in detail before making comments on architectural styles in the future!

That level of pretension must be exhausting.
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It actually comes easily for him. He and Kicky share the same common trait.

As for the topic, I will agree to some extent, but overall, I think most LDS temples are amazing. My personal favorites are Nauvoo:
NauvooTemple.jpg

Not really a beautiful temple on the outside, but the inside is un-freaking-real.

Seattle.
Seattle%2BTemple%2BSunset.jpg

Again, not the best looking, but the land it sits on is amazing. Tons and tons of huge mature evergreens surround everything. It feels like you're hiking in the mountains and all of a sudden you turn the path and BOOM, a temple.

My least favorite, hands down, are Logan:
logan_temple.jpg


Vernal. Vernal makes me want to wretch.
vernal.jpg
 
If we return to medival times than the Mormon church is set. We already have infrastructure, food storages, ranches and castles.
 
The D.C. temple gets my vote for prettiest one. But I agree that the Provo one is pretty vanilla (channeling Vinylone). My wife used to call it the "birthday cake" temple.
 
SiroMar said:
What a great advice. I'll make sure I'll study Hebrew scholars in detail before making comments on architectural styles in the future!

That level of pretension must be exhausting.
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Not really.


My aplogies for acting crass, but in fairness it was hard to detect that you were commenting on stylistic features. FWIW, studying the 2nd temple period can actually be as entertaining as reading a Bart Ehrman sensationalized piece. For all his alleged faults he actually provides really usefull background IMO.
 
Scat said:
I'll have to admit that I also find the Provo and Ogden temples among the least attractive. Having seen the San Diego temple in person I can vouch for its beauty. I also find the Salt Lake temple to be quite spectacular.

salt-lake-mormon-temple.jpg


That said I think this thread is more about you being an *** than anything else.
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This is my favorite one of the thread.
 
The Manhattan temple is probably the worst of the worst but all things considered, does Scientology have a temple in downtown Manhattan? Does anyone?
 
Beantown said:
The Provo one is ugly, looks like a space ship. But the rest are pretty.
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I was going to say something about the Ogden temple, but when I went to look up a picture, I realized they were completely redoing it. I mean totally. I knew they were "renovating" it, but I didn't know they were totally re-doing it. This is what it will look like:
ogden-mormon-temple.jpg
 
For the most part, I think temples are pretty buildings. Yes, Provo is ugly. Some others as well. I'm excited for this one:

tegucigalpa-mormon-temple.jpg


This one is in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. That's where I served my mission. It has the unique distinction of being the only temple to have it's location moved once construction was started. It was supposed to be in a beautiful spot by the University and the Cathedral of Suyapa (Tegucigalpa's main Catholic Cathedral). After getting all the necessary permits and having the excavation done, the locals started making a fuss about it taking away from the beauty of Suyapa. Finally, the LDS church agreed to move it. Now it's going to be by the airport.
Here's a pic of Suyapa Basilica:

thumbnail.aspx

This was in one of my zones on my mission. I went on splits in this area one day. I have a picture of my standing by the front door with a Book of Mormon in my hand pretending to knock on the door.
 
I am excited about that temple as well Catracho. I had the Comayaguela mission and not the Tegucigalpa one though. I kind of like the idea of it being by the airport. Everyone will get to see it as they fly in (hopefully)
 
Duck Rodgers said:
They are usually always on good properties regardless of what the temples look like. Driving down the 5 in San Diego and seeing that temple at night is always a cool experience. Hands down one of the coolest buildings I've ever seen in person.

But yeah, The Spaceship in Provo looks decent at night, but it's pretty damn ugly most of the time. Too bad too because that perch is a really good spot that should glow down on Utah Valley, instead of looking like it's about to lift off. And the "new" temple downtown isn't going to score us any points on the looks scale either once it's finished. It's a decent looking building that I'm glad they are saving/restoring, but it's not good looking for a temple. 0/2. I'm sure Provo will have a third Temple by the Lake someday or something. Maybe they'll finally give us something to look at then.
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Agree. Am always amazed when I see the San Diego temple. Stunning.
 
Archie Moses said:
I drove up to Logan today for work. On the way up, I noticed the temple in Brigham City.

Brigham+Temple.jpg


Not bad.
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Is it finished? I saw it under construction last year. I kind of liked the smaller design and want to see the finished product.

I thought the location was odd. It's right on main street. Brigham City's main street is beautiful with all those old growth trees though so I guess it was a good choice.
 
The Provo and Ogden temples were both built and dedicated in the early 70's and reflect (or did reflect, in the case of Ogden) the horrific architectural trends of that and the preceding decade.

For the most part, I like the various buildings. To my taste, San Diego and Bountiful look too much like fairy castles.
 
Zulu said:
Washington DC
Washington.jpg
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I grew up in the DC area. I remember one year when I was in high school (1987ish) the Washington Post ran a special edition called something like "The Best of the Beltway". Like "Best pizza place along the beltway: Joe's pizza in Arlington VA"(*), and that type of thing. What I remember is they had these two items back-to-back:

Best View from the Beltway: The Mormon temple in Kensington, MD.
Worst View from the Beltway: Everything else.

Made me smile.


(*) I just made that up. There is probably not a Joe's pizza in Arlington VA.
 
colton said:
I grew up in the DC area. I remember one year when I was in high school (1987ish) the Washington Post ran a special edition called something like "The Best of the Beltway". Like "Best pizza place along the beltway: Joe's pizza in Arlington VA"(*), and that type of thing. What I remember is they had these two items back-to-back:

Best View from the Beltway: The Mormon temple in Kensington, MD.
Worst View from the Beltway: Everything else.

Made me smile.


(*) I just made that up. There is probably not a Joe's pizza in Arlington VA.
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https://www.joesplacepizzaandpasta.com/locations.html

BAM!
 
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