Just eight days after the Yorba Linda California Temple was dedicated, the doors were opened to the public to tour the California San Diego Temple in advance of its rededication in August.
The San Diego Lord’s House Open House, first dedicated in 1993 but recently renovated, will be held from June 18 to July 11, excluding Sundays. Tours are free, but reservations are highly recommended, which can be accessed at SanDiegoCaliforniaTemple.org.
There will also be a media day on Monday, June 15th, and invited guests will tour the sacred structure on June 16th and 17th.
Three general leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lead members of the media through the temple on Media Day. Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Craig C. Christensen, General Authority Seventy, President of the Church United States Southeast Area. and Elder I. Raymond Egbo, a General Authority Seventy and Deputy Executive Director of the Temple Department.
“For us as members of the Church, the temple is the holiest place on earth,” Elder Andersen said, according to a June 15 news release from ChurchofJesusChrist.org. “This is a place of holiness, peace and revelation, a place where we receive answers to our prayers. It is very, very important to us. It is a sign to us of the immortality of the soul.”
In conjunction with Media Day, the church published photos of the interior and exterior of the renovated temple on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The San Diego Temple will be rededicated two months later on Sunday, Aug. 23, at 10 a.m. and rebroadcast at 2 p.m., but the presiding authority has not been announced.
The House of the Lord is the Church’s 45th operating temple and closed in July 2023 for major renovations.
These include repainting the exterior. Refresh the landscape. Improved accessibility. Upgrades to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. Improve the roof. Replacement of art glass, carpet, lighting, and furniture. The cafeteria area was also removed and the space was repurposed as a waiting room for wedding attendees.
Design and function
The 58,005-square-foot, four-story San Diego Temple is constructed from a combination of structural steel, precast concrete, and marble chips embedded in marble concrete plaster. This sacred building has ten minarets, two of which are larger than the others. Art glass windows feature gold, tan, and textured glass.
Inside the building is an eight-pointed star-shaped atrium formed by two overlapping squares offset by 45 degrees. The design is also woven into carpets, ceilings, art glass and light fixtures. The floors are made up of light cream and medium brown marble, and Crema Marfil marble is used for the countertops in the changing rooms and oversized ceiling room.
The entrance, waiting room, and instruction room are decorated with satin brass fixtures with white alabaster acrylic. The ceiling room features polished silver fixtures with Asfour crystals, while the ceiling room showcases four chandeliers and sconces with a satin gold finish and incorporating Asfour crystals. The bride’s room features a wall-to-wall area rug with pink and purple floral print.
Cherry veneer is used for the baseboards, door frames, cabinets, and handrails of the grand staircase, and the white-painted door uses a vertical decorative board made of multiple squares. A round skylight with a decorative metal grill in the shape of a petal sits above the large sealed chamber. Other sealing chambers have unique ceiling art that combines squares, petal designs, and gold leaf.
About the San Diego Temple
The House of the Lord in San Diego was once the third temple in California dedicated and the Church’s 45th operating temple. Once rededicated, the church will serve approximately 50,000 members in San Diego County, southern Riverside County, and east of Yuma, Arizona.
On April 7, 1984, President Gordon B. Hinckley, then Second Counselor in the First Presidency, announced the temple at the beginning of the April 1984 general conference. He said this was announced to local leaders early that morning by the First Presidency, with President Spencer W. Kimball as President of the Church.
President Ezra Taft Benson, as President of the Church, presided over the temple’s groundbreaking ceremony on February 27, 1988. His second counselor, President Thomas S. Monson, dedicated the site.
In his address to the congregation, President Benson said the temple “serves as a lasting testimony that the power of God can keep the forces of evil in our midst.”
After completion, an open house was held from February 20, 1993 to April 3, 1993. During this period, approximately 720,000 people visited the open house, of which 650,000 people were expected to visit.
The San Diego California Temple was dedicated in 23 sessions from April 25 to April 30, 1993. President Hinckley, then First Counselor in the First Presidency, presided over 13 sessions, and President Monson presided over the remaining 10 sessions.
President Hinckley prayed in his dedicatory prayer: “May it be of unparalleled beauty, emitting a spiritual glow that speaks of peace and goodness to the millions of people who see it as they move quickly along the adjacent highways.”
The San Diego Temple continued to perform temple ordinances for 30 years before closing on July 31, 2023 for major renovations.
At the time of its closure, the temple was 169 feet tall and 72,000 square feet in size, with two central minarets surrounded by four smaller minarets. Highlighted by Interstate 5 in Southern California, the temple sits on 7.2 acres near the suburbs of La Jolla, north of San Diego.
california church
There are nine dedicated Lord’s homes in California, with one under construction and two in the planning stages.
In addition to the San Diego Temple, which is undergoing renovation, eight temples have been dedicated in the state: Los Angeles Temple (dedicated in 1956), Oakland Temple (1964), Fresno Temple (2000), Redlands Temple (2003), Newport Beach Temple (2005), Sacramento Temple (2006), Feather River Temple (2023), and Yorba Linda Temple (June 2026).
The Modesto California Temple has been under construction since October 2023. Temples are also planned for Bakersfield and the San Jose suburb of Sunnyvale, both of which were announced in April 2023.
Latter-day Saints first arrived in California, then Yerba Buena, on July 31, 1846. The company, with approximately 230 employees, tripled the population of Yerba Buena and helped create the prosperous city of San Francisco.
Today, nearly 730,000 Latter-day Saints live in California and meet in approximately 600 meetinghouses and more than 1,000 wards and branches.
San Diego California Temple
Address: 7474 Charmant Drive, San Diego, CA 92122-5000
Announcement: On April 7, 1984, the First Presidency announced President Spencer W. Kimball as President of the Church.
Groundbreaking ceremony: February 27, 1988, presided over by President Ezra Taft Benson, President of the Church.
Dedication: April 25, 1993, by President Gordon B. Hinckley, First Counselor in the First Presidency.
Rededication Open House: June 18 to July 11, 2026, excluding Sundays.
Scheduled rededication: August 23, 2026
Site area: 7.2 acres
Building size: 58,005 square feet
Building Height: 169 feet to the top of the spire
