Another new Latter-day Saint temple opens this week to public tours, and its design was partly inspired by farming and — Presbyterians.
According to a Monday news release from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Layton Temple “includes design motifs that were influenced by the agricultural heritage” of the area, with seedlings, leafy branches and cherry blossoms inside and outside the structure.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The entrance of the second-floor patron waiting area in the Layton Utah Temple features this Tiffany Studio window, circa 1915, which was purchased from a United Presbyterian Church in Armenia, New York. That church was demolished in 2015.
The second floor boasts a 1915 Tiffany art piece, titled “The Resurrection.” It was purchased from a United Presbyterian Church in the small town of Amenia, New York, about 100 miles north of New York City. That church was torn down in 2015.
The Layton Temple will open to the public Friday. Free tours will continue Mondays through Saturdays through June 1. Reservations are recommended and can be made online.
Church President Russell M. Nelson announced the temple in April 2018. “We want to bring temples closer to the expanding membership of the church,” Nelson said at the time. A ceremonial groundbreaking in May 2020 launched official construction on the 11.87-acre site at 1400 Oak Hills Drive.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Angel Moroni statue atop the Layton Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The three-story, nearly 94,000-square-foot structure features a golden Angel Moroni statue atop one of its twin spires. The temple is constructed of precast concrete panels over a structural steel frame and cast-in-place concrete shear walls.
Church apostle David A. Bednar will preside at the dedication of the temple June 16.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Celestial Room in the Layton Utah Temple.
It is the second temple in Davis County, joining Bountiful, which opened in 1995. A third Davis County temple, in Syracuse, is under construction. The Layton Temple will be the 195th operating Latter-day Saint temple in the world, according to the news release, and the 22nd temple completed in Utah.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The baptistry inside the Layton Utah Temple.
It will be the second to be dedicated in the Beehive State in June. Apostle Gerrit W. Gong is poised to perform those honors for the Taylorsville Temple, now open to tours through May 18, on June 2.
Layton and Taylorsville will join 17 other temples currently functioning in Utah. They are Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Draper, Jordan River (South Jordan), Logan, Monticello, Mount Timpanogos (American Fork), Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain (South Jordan), Orem, Payson, Provo City Center (converted from the former Provo Tabernacle), Red Cliffs (St. George — dedicated in March); Saratoga Springs, St. George and Vernal.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) A chandelier in the Celestial Room of the Layton Utah Temple.
The iconic Salt Lake Temple is undergoing extensive renovation and is expected to reopen in 2026. The space-age Provo Temple closed in February, and — despite the efforts of some community members and preservationists — is being overhauled. (It will be renamed the Provo Rock Canyon Temple.) Renovations were recently completed for the Manti Temple, another pioneer-era architectural gem, which is set to be rededicated Sunday by apostle Ronald A. Rasband.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The main staircase in the Layton Utah Temple.
Eight more — Deseret Peak (Tooele), Ephraim, Heber Valley, Lehi, Lindon, Smithfield, Syracuse and West Jordan — are either under construction or in planning stages. When all are completed, that will bring the number of temples in Utah to a whopping 30.
Nelson has announced 168, or 48%, of the global faith’s 350 planned or existing temples around the world.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) A mural above a window pane in the Layton Utah Temple. The mural shows the baptism of Jesus.
Latter-day Saints view a temple as a House of the Lord, a place where devout members participate in their religion’s most sacred rituals, including eternal marriage.
