Washington D.C. Temple

The Washington D.C. Temple (formerly the Washington Temple) is the 18th constructed and 16th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is located in Kensington, Maryland, in the United States, near the Capital Beltway just north of Washington, D.C. The temple was dedicated in 1974 after an open house that attracted over 750,000 people including several international dignitaries. The temple was the first temple built by the church east of the Mississippi River since 1846, when the original Nauvoo Temple was dedicated. Built at a cost of about $15 million, the temple is the tallest in the United States; its easternmost spire is 288 feet (88 m) tall. Its floor area of 160,000 square feet (15,000 m2) is the third-largest among LDS temples. Its design emulates the Salt Lake Temple with six spires, three on each end, and the building is encased in white Alabama marble. It has a visitors' center. The architecture and highly visible location of the temple along the Capital Beltway has made the temple a local landmark in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area.