LDS Temple News Presents the Feather River California Temple House of the Lord Holiness to the Lord
The Feather River California Temple is the 184th dedicated temple in operation and the first temple built in Sutter County, California. Located at 1470 Butte House Road, Yuba City, California 95993, it is the eighth temple built in the state.
Announcement and milestones
The temple was announced to the public on October 7, 2018, by President Russell M. Nelson at General Conference. At the time, it was planned as a temple for Yuba City and would become California’s eighth, joining the Los Angeles California Temple (1956), Oakland California Temple (1964), San Diego California Temple (1993), Fresno California Temple (2000), Redlands California Temple (2003), Newport Beach California Temple (2005), and Sacramento California Temple (2006). California was then home to more than 760,000 Church members organized into nearly 1,300 congregations.
A rendering of the temple was released on September 26, 2019. The groundbreaking and dedication of the temple grounds are dated July 18, 2020. The account of the small groundbreaking also identifies the event as taking place on Saturday, June 18, 2020, with Area Seventy Paul H. Watkins presiding. Attendance was limited under COVID-19 social-distancing guidelines.
In his dedicatory prayer for the grounds, Elder Watkins said, “As the temple foundation is poured, and the walls are placed, and the roof is formed, let us all revitalize our foundational faith in apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ being our chief cornerstone.”
The public open house ran from August 19 through September 9, 2023. Apostle Ulisses Soares dedicated the temple on October 8, 2023. In his testimony, he affirmed, “This is the house of the Lord.”
Size, setting, and exterior
The Feather River California Temple occupies 9.24 acres and contains 41,665 square feet across two stories. It stands 135 feet tall at an elevation of 60 feet. Its exterior is finished with cream precast concrete panels. A single attached end spire is topped by a gold-leafed Angel Moroni statue.
The landscape plan draws inspiration from the Sacramento Valley’s Mediterranean climate, history, and biodiversity. It incorporates mature native oak, redwood, and hackberry trees already on the grounds. A distinctive feature is a group of 100-year-old olive trees transplanted from a local orchard and arranged in groves in front of and behind the temple.
A six-foot-tall steel picket fence, powder-coated bronze to coordinate with other metal fixtures, encloses the grounds. Precast concrete pillars mark the gated entrances.
Art glass and interior design
Almond blossoms in the windows
Art glass appears in all the temple’s windows. The arched second-level windows and the ordinance spaces depict almond blossoms, reflecting the area’s agricultural industry. The design celebrates natural beauty and the rewards of hard work, using the blossoms’ natural colors against a background that fades from yellow to blue.
Materials and decorative details
The general carpet pattern draws from early Christian architecture. Its green color reflects the rice fields and agricultural life of the area. Carved into the carpet is an almond-flower design coordinated with the art glass. Other rug designs evoke an open field of local wildflowers and California poppies, the state flower.
The stone flooring combines Crema Beige marble from Iran, Emperador Light from Turkey, Inca Gold from Pakistan, Verde Lichen from Iran, Rojo Alicante from Spain, and Vanilla from Turkey. The colors coordinate with the fabrics and reflect local flora. The floor pattern throughout the temple references other buildings in the area, while the stone pattern around the baptistry draws from the art-glass designs.
Decorative paint is used simply along the patron path. In the ordinance areas, it abstracts local flora and its underlying geometry, accentuating the architecture at key points and connections. The designs call attention to the area’s natural beauty and the principles that contribute to it.
Lighting, millwork, and furnishings
The interior lights are brass, with crystal added in the ordinance spaces. Every fixture features a shallow bowl. In the ordinance rooms, the bowl’s shallow curve contrasts with the vaulted ceiling, bringing together two complementary forms to complete the circle.
Decorative millwork appears on the altars, recommend desk, baptismal font, and doors leading into ordinance spaces. Its modified quatrefoil pattern comes from early Christian architecture and abstracts the form of a four-leaf clover.
The font railing abstracts tall reeds that grow beside bodies of water and also draws on the shape of the rice plant cultivated extensively in the area.
Doors, wall coverings, and ceilings
The doors are made of cherry wood, reflecting the importance of cherries as an agricultural product in the region. Brass hardware features arches, a reed-and-ribbon motif, and abstract forms of flora.
Simple textured wall coverings are used throughout the temple. A leaf pattern in the bride’s room echoes the art glass and rug designs and derives from early Christian depictions of the olive branch.
Feather River California Temple Architectural influences
The ceilings in the temple’s ordinance spaces are vaulted, referencing early Christian architecture and local historical architecture.
Temple rooms
The Feather River California Temple includes four instruction rooms, three sealing rooms, and one baptistry.
LDS Temple News Presents the Feather River California Temple House of the Lord Holiness to the Lord.