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455 East Main Street, Mesa, AZ 85203

MesaTemple.org
  • Visitors’ Center
    • Visitors’ Center
    • Family History Classes
  • Visit
  • Events
  • Inspiration
  • History
  • Resources
    • Sunday Service
    • Announcements
    • Temple Session Schedule & Info
    • Contact Us

A Look Back … A Glimpse of the Building of the Temple

Homepage History A Look Back ... A Glimpse of the Building of the Temple

A Look Back … A Glimpse of the Building of the Temple

Jill Adair
June 9, 2022
History, Mesa, Mesa Temple, Temples

Arthur Price of the Church Building Department took personal charge of the building of the Arizona Temple as construction architect on January 5, 1923. This job he would have until the temple’s dedication in 1927.

Temple construction workers with architect Arthur Price, 1923. Photo from the collection of Craig Smith.

The British-born architect (1874-1971) had trained as a draftsman before becoming a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when 27 years old (in 1901). Price then immigrated to Utah in 1905. Later, at age 85, he was quoted in a Deseret News article: “The thing I’m most proud of is that I became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. That is the greatest thing in my life” (Deseret News, May 16, 1959).

Deeply committed to his calling as the caretaker of the temple site, he walked through the under-construction building late at night. When his young daughter asked if he was afraid to be in the dark building alone, he answered, “This is the House of the Lord, and there is nothing to fear.”

Arthur Price in the center with workers, 1926. From the collection of Craig Smith

Brother Price and his wife, Isabella, relocated to Mesa for the five years that the temple was under construction and recorded later that the years spent overseeing the building of the temple were “the happiest years of our lives.”

Arthur and Bella Price and family in Mesa. Photo from FamilySearch.org

Under Brother Price’s direction, an office was erected to house tools and materials necessary for the temple’s construction. Twohy Brothers of Tempe provided the sand, and crushed rock was from the Tempe Butte quarry. The cement contract was given to the Foxworth-Bush Lumber Company from Riverside, California. Hardware was furnished from the O. S. Stapley Company in Mesa and 130 tons of steel were shipped in from El Paso, Texas.

May 7, 1923 – Temple Foundation & Basement Work – Looking West Towards 2nd Avenue. From the collection of Craig Smith

Only the highest standard of building materials and workmanship were acceptable to Price. Each load of cement, sand, and rock was tested for chemical purity and strength, and the mixing of concrete was timed “to the second.”

June 7, 1923. From the collection of Craig Smith

One report indicated that the foundation pillars were “the most carefully measured, scientifically constructed, perfectly organized masses of concrete and steel ever constructed into a building.”

July 1923. From the collection of Craig Smith

Price was also a stickler for requiring that the work be completed on time.

July 1923. From the collection of Craig Smith

Columns of reinforced concrete, beams, and floors made up the structure of the building. The foundation walls varied between ten and twelve feet thick. More than a million clay bricks filled the exterior walls. Then they were faced with burned fireclay blocks. An eggshell-colored glaze was attained by spraying each block before it was placed in the kiln. The finished product is known as “pulsichrome terra cotta.” The Gladding-McBean Company in California provided the tile.

Aug 1, 1923. From the collection of Craig Smith

Exterior dimensions of the temple were 128 feet by 184 feet, and the height reaching just 55 feet.

September 5,1923 – Temple Construction – Looking Northeast. From the collection of Craig Smith

The roof was covered with insulating material, and it gradually sloped from the parapet towards the center, where an immense skylight allowed the “light of heaven” to shine on the temple’s unique stairway and grand hall, which extended from the front entrance to the Celestial Room.

Oct. 1, 1923. From the collection of Craig Smith
Tags: Downtown Mesa Mesa Mesa Arizona Mesa Temple temples The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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Thursday, 9, Jun
A Look Back … A Glimpse of the Building of the Temple
Sunday, 29, May
A Look Back … New Murals Honor Original Artists
Thursday, 26, May
A Look Back … A Granite Match is “All Miracles”
Sunday, 10, Apr
Easter Pageant Soundtrack Broadcast on Easter
Wednesday, 23, Feb
The Mesa Easter Pageant returns in April 2022
Friday, 21, Jan
FOX 10 report: Easter pageant returns in 2022, to be held at Mesa Arizona Temple

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