Where on Earth would you put a temple in New York City? I mean there is no open space in the city.  But the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints put one in New York City.

Location

Timeline:

This temple was announced on August 7, 2022, and the groundbreaking was on Sept. 23, 2002. It was dedicated on June 13, 2004.

So it only took 2 years to build. That is quick, isn’t it?

Facts:

1. Converted a Stake Center building into the Temple
2. Sits across from the Lincoln Center.
3. The stake Center was dedicated in May of 1975, by President Spencer W. Kimball
4. Still have a chapel, cultural hall, baptismal font, and classrooms on the 3rd floor
5. They have a public affairs office on the second floor
6. The temple occupies part of the first floor and all of the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of the building
7. The total square feet of the temple are 20,630.
8. On June 12,  2004, at Radio Music Hall, there was a jubilee celebration where 2,400 LDS youth performed
9. 53,000 people attended the open house
10. The windows are all backlist in order to preserve a quiet atmosphere devoid of city noise

History

President Gordon B. Hinckley told members attending a regional conference in March of 2002, that a Temple will be built in the area in the next 2 years. Everyone thought this would be the Harrison, New York site since that has been delayed for many years.  But the 42,000 members soon found out that there would be one built in New York City.

They took a building the church owned, it was a stake building, and converted part of it into a temple.  The angel Moroni statue was added to the steeple in the fall of 2004, and this angel faces southwest as that is the way the building faced, as most of the angel Moroni faces eastward.

Video

Here is a video I found