Washington Temple of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints To Hold Public Open House, Rededication In 2022
KENSINGTON, Md. (WJZ) -- For the first time in 45 years, the Washington D.C. Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will allow non-members to attend an open house.
The Church will open its doors to the public beginning on April 28, 2022, until June 4, 2022. Youth devotional and rededication services will be held on June 18, 2022, and June 19, 2022, officials said during a media event Tuesday.
Private tours of the Kensington landmark, visible from the Capital Beltway, will be for invited guests from April 19-27, followed by a two-month public open house starting April 28, 2022, until June 4, 2022. Open house ticket information is on the temple's website.
"This is a great occasion for us to open the doors of the temple for our friends, members of the Washington, D.C., community, people and partners of all faiths and backgrounds to come and join us and to experience the beauty and peace that is the temple of the Lord," Aaron Sherinian, director of media for the temple open house committee, said in a statement.
The temple, which first opened in 1974, closed in March 2018 for a significant renovation. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing and lighting systems throughout the 160,000-square-foot structure have been refreshed, in addition to other work done to refurbish and renovate the temple. The open house and rededication had been delayed due to the pandemic.
The inside of the temple maintains its same midcentury motif with an added "21st-century flair" to make it "more maintainable, more modern and really relevant for today," said Dan Holt, project manager for the Washington D.C. Temple renovation project, in the statement.
The groundbreaking for the Washington D.C. Temple, located in Kensington, Maryland, was Dec. 7, 1968. President Spencer W. Kimball dedicated the temple on Nov. 19-22, 1974. The temple serves Latter-day Saints in Maryland, Washington, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The temple was opened to the public from Sept. 17 to Oct. 19, 1974, and more than 750,000 visitors toured the building.