On December 27, 1832, two years after the organization of the Church of Christ, the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, stated he received a revelation that called upon church members to restore the practice of temple worship. The Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio were commanded to:
The largest of the denominations that have come from the Latter Day Saint movement, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) view temples as the fulfillment of a prophecy found in (KJV).
The Kirtland Temple was the first temple of the Latter Day Saint movement and the only temple completed in Smith's lifetime. Its unique design was replicated on a larger scale with the Nauvoo Temple and in subsequent temples built by the LDS Church. As the needs of the church have changed, so has temple architecture—from large castellic structures adorned with celestial symbols, to smaller, simpler designs, often derived from a standard set of plans.
Kirtland Temple
The Kirtland Temple, built in Kirtland, Ohio, was not designed as a church or cathedral. It was a house of learning, where the School of the Prophets could meet. This temple was not built to accommodate the endowment ceremony, which was taught later. It has no baptistry, as the doctrine of baptism for the dead was not yet practiced. The structure has two unique sets of pulpits, representing the Aaronic Priesthood and the Melchizedek Priesthood. Truman O. Angell recorded in his journal that about this time Frederick G. Williams, one of Smith's counselors in the church's First Presidency, came into the temple during construction and related the following:
Following Smith's death and the associated succession crisis, Angell continued as the LDS Church's architect, designing the Salt Lake Temple, Lion House, Beehive House, Utah Territorial Statehouse, St. George Temple, and many other public buildings.
The sandstone used to build the temple was quarried from south of the temple. Native timbers were cut from the surrounding forests. The Temple, begun in 1833 and dedicated in 1836, was one of the largest buildings in Northern Ohio. It is a combination of Greek, Georgian, Gothic, and Federalist architectural styles. The building has been designated a National Historical Landmark and has been recognized by the Architects Society of Ohio and the Ohio Historical Society.
The pulpits and the pews are among the distinctive features of the interior. Two sets of pulpits grace the main floor with another two sets on the second floor. The seats in the pew boxes are benches that can be shifted from the back to the front, thus making it possible for the congregation to face either the front or the rear pulpits.
The main floor of the Kirtland Temple was used for various services of worship, and the second floor was a school for the ministry. The third floor contained rooms for the "Kirtland High School" during the day and Church quorum meetings in the evening. The west third floor room was Smith's office.
Nauvoo Temple
Construction of the original Nauvoo Temple commenced April 6, 1841, and its final dedication was in May 1846. The temple was designed in the Greek Revival style by architect William Weeks, under the direction of Smith. Weeks' design made use of sunstones, moonstones, and starstones. Some have thought these represented distinctively Latter-day Saint motifs, representing the Three Degrees of Glory in the LDS Church's conception of the afterlife (D&C 76: 70-81). The placement of the symbols on the building in descending order—starstones, sunstones, and moonstones—does not support the above assertion, but rather a reflection of Revelation 12:1.
At its base the building was long and wide, with a clock tower and weather vane reaching to —a 60% increase over the dimensions of the Kirtland Temple. Like Kirtland, the Nauvoo Temple contained two assembly halls, one on the first floor and one on the second, called the lower and upper courts. Both had classrooms and offices in the attic. Unlike Kirtland, the Nauvoo Temple had a full basement, which housed a baptismal font.
Basement
The basement of the Nauvoo Temple, used as the baptistery, contained a large baptismal font in the center of the main room. The basement proper was long and wide with six rooms of varying size on either side. It originally featured a tongue and grooved white pine font, painted white. It was sixteen feet long, twelve feet wide, and four feet deep. This font was replaced with a limestone one after several years to better handle the water. Two railed stairways led to the font from the north and south sides. A well on the east side of the font provided the water supply.