LDS Temple News Presents Feather River California Temple Photography
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, the two-story House of the Lord stands 135 feet tall at an elevation of 60 feet. It is built on 9.24 acres and measures 41,665 square feet.
History and Key Dates
Announcement and planning
The Feather River California Temple was originally announced as a temple planned for Yuba City. Prophet Russell M. Nelson announced it to the public on October 7, 2018, during General Conference. At the time, it was identified as the eighth temple planned for California, a state with more than 760,000 Church members organized into nearly 1,300 congregations.
The other California temples then in operation were 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). The Feather River California Temple is the eighth temple built in the state.
A rendering of the temple was released on September 26, 2019.
Groundbreaking and public open house
The groundbreaking and grounds dedication took place on July 18, 2020. Area Seventy Paul H. Watkins presided over a small groundbreaking ceremony. Attendance was limited under COVID-19 social-distancing guidelines. The supplied account also gives June 18, 2020, as the date of that small ceremony; this differs from the July 18 date given for the groundbreaking and grounds dedication.
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.
Dedication and dimensions
Apostle Ulisses Soares dedicated the Feather River California Temple on October 8, 2023. Elder Soares has taught, “The temple is the house of the Lord, and it is the most sacred place on earth.”
The House of the Lord has four instruction rooms, three sealing rooms, and one baptistry. Its exterior is finished with cream precast concrete panels, and its architecture includes a single attached end spire topped with a gold-leafed Angel Moroni statue.
Exterior, Landscape, and Grounds
Almond-blossom art glass
Art glass appears in every window. The arched windows on the second level and the windows in the ordinance spaces depict almond blossoms, reflecting the area’s agricultural industry. The design celebrates beauty and the rewards of hard work. Natural almond-blossom colors stand out against a background that fades from yellow to blue.
Landscape and entrances
The landscape plan draws inspiration from the Sacramento Valley’s Mediterranean climate and the area’s rich history and biodiversity. Several mature native oak, redwood, and hackberry trees already on the grounds are incorporated into the design. A notable feature is a group of 100-year-old olive trees transplanted from a local orchard. They are arranged in groves in front of and behind the temple.
A six-foot-tall steel picket fence encloses the grounds. Its bronze powder-coated finish matches other metal fixtures. Precast concrete pillars mark the gated entrances.
Interior Design Details
Carpets, stone, and decorative paint
The general carpet pattern draws from early Christian architecture. Its green color represents the area’s rice fields and agricultural life. Carving in the carpet incorporates the almond flower to coordinate with the art glass. The rug designs recall an open field of local wildflowers and California poppies, the state flower.
The stone floor uses 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 were chosen to complement the fabrics and reflect local flora. The stone pattern throughout the House of the Lord references other architecture in the area, while the pattern around the baptistry draws from the art-glass designs.
Decorative paint is used simply along the patron path. In ordinance areas, it forms an abstraction of local flora and its underlying geometry, accenting the architecture at key points and connections. The design points to the area’s natural beauty and the principles that contribute to it.
Feather River California Temple Lighting, millwork, and other finishes
The interior light fixtures are brass, with crystal added in the ordinance spaces. All feature a shallow bowl. In the ordinance rooms, the bowl’s shallow curve contrasts with the vaulted ceiling, bringing together two complementary elements to complete a 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 along the edges of bodies of water and also draws on the shape of the rice plant widely grown in the area.
The doors are made of cherry wood, reflecting cherries’ importance as a local agricultural product. Brass hardware features arches, a reed-and-ribbon motif, and abstract forms of flora.
Simple textured wall coverings are used throughout the House of the Lord. In the bride’s room, a leaf pattern echoes the art glass and rug designs. It derives from early Christian depictions of the olive branch.
The ceilings in the temple’s ordinance spaces are vaulted, recalling early Christian architecture and the area’s local architectural history.
LDS Temple News Presents Feather River California Temple Photography