A first look: Layton Utah Temple to open for public tours

LAYTON — After years of construction, the Layton Utah Temple is finally ready to be seen. It will open its doors Friday to the public and stand as the 195th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In all its grandeur, the sacred temple is a three-story structure and spans nearly 94,000 square feet, the Church said in a press release. After dedication, the Layton Temple will be the 22nd temple completed in Utah and the second of its kind in Davis County, after the Bountiful Temple was dedicated in 1995. It is also the second temple currently open to the public, as the Taylorsville Temple will be open for tours until May 18.

About the Layton Utah Temple

Situated on a slope between the Great Salt Lake and the Wasatch peaks of the Rocky Mountains, the building resides at 1400 Oak Hills Drive.

Its design, inspired by traditional Latter-day Saint and other religious architecture, is also dusted with design motifs from the agricultural heritage of the Layton City area, featuring seedlings, leafy branches and cherry blossoms. The exterior was constructed from precast concrete panels that lay over a steel frame and cast-in-place concrete shear walls, the Church said.

Perhaps the most unique display on the premises is a Tiffany art glass piece dated from 1915 called “The Resurrection.” The Church said it was purchased from a United Presbyterian Church in Armenia, New York, which was torn down in 2015.

A first look

Media tours began Monday, and multiple Church leaders hosted the first tour, including General Authority Seventy Elder Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier, Executive Director of the Temple Department Elder Kevin R. Duncan, and First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency Sister Amy R. Wright.

Sister Wright, who raised her children in Layton, had words of welcome, the Church announcement said.

“My dear friends here today, every one of us has been invited to come and see,” she said. “It is our hope that you will also come and feel and know of the love that God has for each and every one of you and the love that our Savior Jesus Christ has for each and every one of you.”

Elder Duncan said the structure served as a “house of hope” and a “place of peace.”

“My friends, I hope that as you’re inside this temple, you’ll really feel that it is a place of refuge from the storms of life for all of us,” he said.

Local reaction

The temple has brought excitement and joy to the residents in Layton and the surrounding areas.

“I honestly feel so much excitement for it,” said 17-year-old Penina Leota. “And it gives me so many opportunities to go to the temple a lot more, because I would have to go to Ogden or Bountiful to go to the temple. And now it’s just like, right in my backyard.”

“We are so excited to have a temple,” said Elder Thomas Checketts, an Area Seventy. “We’re excited for all that it represents. And, and we hope that people will come and feel a spirit of peace and hope as they come and enjoy the presence of the temple here in this community. It’s a huge blessing.”

Checketts and his wife, Lynette, live near the temple and serve as serve as open house and dedication coordinators.

“These are our friends and and our neighbors and people that we love,” said Lynette Checketts. “And we have a great love for the temple. So we can’t wait to show them what this temple is like and what is what temples are all about.”

The Checketts told KSL more than 250,000 people have made reservations to tour the temple.

“And we have room for lots more. And we hope that that hundreds of thousands more will come and and feel and see the beauty of the house of the Lord,” Elder Thomas Checketts said.

Tour details

The Church said there will be no cost to attend the Layton Temple open house, but tour reservations are recommended and can be made online. The last day to tour will be Saturday, June 1. The temple will then be dedicated on June 16 by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Contributing: Mike Anderson