The First Mormon Temple: Design, Construction, and Historic Context of the Kirtland Temple

When the Mormon Saints dug the foundation trench for their first temple, only 150 members lived in Kirtland, Ohio. Despite a serious lack of manpower, proper equipment, and funds, they doggedly persisted in building and adorning "a house to the Lord." Both their struggles and their aspirations are recorded in the temple's structure and architecture.

Elwin C. Robison holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Brigham Young University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in architectural history from Cornell University. He teaches in the School of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University and consults on the structure, restoration, and conservaton of historic buildings. He is a co-author of Architectural Technology up to the Scientifc Revolution (MIT Press, 1993) and editor-in-chief of Architronics; The Electronic Journal of Architecture. He has also published articles on the architecture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy, on early American skyscrapers, and on American city planning.