LDS Temple News Presents Feather River California Temple
The Feather River California Temple is the 184th dedicated temple in operation. Its address is 1470 Butte House Road, Yuba City, California 95993. Originally announced as a temple planned for Yuba City, it is the first temple built in Sutter County and the eighth temple built in California.
Announcement, construction, and dedication
Prophet Russell M. Nelson announced the Feather River California Temple on October 7, 2018, during General Conference. At the time, it was to become California’s eighth temple, 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.
The temple rendering was released on September 26, 2019. The supplied dates for the groundbreaking and dedication of the grounds differ: one gives July 18, 2020, while another describes a small groundbreaking on Saturday, June 18, 2020. Paul H. Watkins, an Area Seventy, presided at the small event, where attendance was limited by COVID-19 social-distancing guidelines. In the 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.”
A public open house ran from August 19 through September 9, 2023. Apostle Ulisses Soares dedicated the temple on October 8, 2023. To capture the hope expressed at the dedication, Elder Soares’s message may be summarized this way: “May all who enter this House of the Lord feel the Savior’s peace and draw closer to Jesus Christ.”
Architecture and grounds
The House of the Lord occupies 9.24 acres and measures 41,665 square feet. It is two stories tall, reaches a height of 135 feet, and sits at an elevation of 60 feet. Its exterior finish is cream precast concrete panels. Architectural features include a single attached end spire topped by a gold-leafed Angel Moroni statue. Inside are four instruction rooms, three sealing rooms, and one baptistry.
The landscape design takes inspiration from the Sacramento Valley’s Mediterranean climate, local history, and biodiversity. It incorporates several mature native oak, redwood, and hackberry trees already on the grounds. A notable feature is a collection of 100-year-old olive trees transplanted from a local orchard and arranged in groves both in front of and behind the House of the Lord.
The grounds are enclosed by a six-foot-tall steel picket fence. Its bronze-colored powder coating matches other metal fixtures, and precast concrete pillars mark the gated entrances.
Feather River California Temple Almond blossoms and local design
Almond blossoms appear in the art glass throughout the temple’s windows. The arched second-level windows and windows in the ordinance spaces feature the blossoms, reflecting the area’s agricultural industry and celebrating both natural beauty and the rewards of hard work. The blossoms’ natural colors are set against a background that fades from yellow to blue.
Interior materials and details
The general carpet pattern draws from early Christian architecture. Its green color represents the rice fields and farming community of the area. Carved into the carpet is an almond-flower design that coordinates with the art glass. Other rug designs evoke a field of local wildflowers and the California poppy, 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 were selected to coordinate with the fabrics and represent local flora. The stone pattern throughout the House of the Lord refers to other buildings in the area, while the pattern around the baptistry draws from the art glass designs.
Craftsmanship and finishing touches
Decorative paint is used simply along the patron path. In the ordinance areas, its abstract designs draw on local flora and its underlying geometry. The paint accents the architecture at key points and connections, reflecting the area’s natural beauty and the principles that contribute to it.
Brass lights are used throughout the interior, with crystal added in the ordinance spaces. Each fixture has a shallow bowl. In the ordinance rooms, the bowl’s shallow curve contrasts with the vaulted ceiling, bringing together two complementary forms that complete the circle.
Decorative millwork appears on the altars, recommend desk, baptismal font, and doors leading into ordinance spaces. Its modified quatrefoil pattern draws from early Christian architecture and offers an abstract version of a four-leaf clover. The font railing is an abstraction of tall reeds found along the edges of bodies of water and also recalls the rice plant, which is extensively grown in the area.
Cherry wood doors reflect cherries’ importance as a local agricultural product. The doors have brass hardware featuring arches, a reed-and-ribbon motif, and abstract forms drawn from flora. Simple textured wallcoverings appear throughout the House of the Lord. In the bride’s room, a leaf pattern recalls the art glass and rug designs and is derived from early Christian representations of the olive branch. The ceilings in the ordinance spaces are vaulted, referencing early Christian and local historical architecture.
LDS Temple News Presents Feather River California Temple