Our beautiful chapel was designed in 1950 by an early 20th-century architect with architectural works throughout the western United States and Canada named Harold William Burton. Burton was one of the most prolific architects of chapels, meetinghouses, tabernacles and temples for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1910 he opened an architectural firm with Hyrum Pope (Pope & Burton) in Salt Lake City, Utah. They particularly appreciated Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School architectural style. As young architects, Pope & Burton won design competitions for two of their better-known works, the Cardston Alberta and Laie Hawaii temples. Burton moved to Los Angeles, California in 1927 to set up another office in the firm with Pope. After Pope unexpectedly died in 1939, Burton established a new firm with his son Douglas W. Burton. Together they continued to design many buildings, and in 1955 Harold Burton became the chief supervising architect for the church. One of his final works was the Oakland California Temple. Aside from places of worship, Burton designed civic buildings and homes. Many of his works exist today, some of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Thanks @wikipedia)
This building has a similar, but not as grand entry as the Las Vegas 9th Ward Chapel, also designed by Harold Burton. Built several years prior to the Los Angeles Temple our building was originally called the Beverly Hills Ward. Note how the Sacrament table is not only centered in the room, but also brought forward as the closest element to the pews. The pulpit is pushed to the side as is the clerk table. This arrangement shows the importance of the sacrament over that of the spoken word.
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