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Satellite photo of the San Diego California Temple with the "Seal of Melchizedek" overlayed 13 times. I particularly like the symbol used in the skylight of the atrium in the center of the temple.
To continue my research I wanted to know as accurately as possible the story about this symbol, the “seal of Melchizedek,” as it was used in the San Diego Temple. I couldn’t find a good account online, so I decided to go to the source. Who better would know than the design architect of the temple? So I gave him a call.
His name is William “Bill” S. Lewis Jr., and he is a member of the Church and a current sealer at the San Diego Temple. He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1953 with a degree in architecture, was a co-owner of an architectural firm in San Diego for a number of years, and he has been involved with many architectural projects in the San Diego area. I’m sure he counts his design work on the temple as one of his most cherished experiences. He retired in 1990, after a 41-year career. See the footnotes for a little more background about Br. Lewis [1]. He was very cordial on the phone, and gave me the courtesy of about a twenty minute phone call. The story he told me was intriguing, and I thought it would be good to document it.
He said that the architects were given quite a lot of freedom on the design of this particular temple, and it was not dictated by the Church’s building department as other temples have been. This freedom was granted expressly by President Hinckley.
He said they were working hard to find a common symbol, module, or pattern to give continuity to the design, or to give a certain character to the temple. They started with a square, but they thought that was too plain and boxy. Then they started chamfering the square’s corners which brought it to an 8-sided figure. When they extended the lines it became two overlapping squares. They thought that would work well and so they started using it more and more in the design of the temple. He said that the more they used it the better and better it worked. Some people asked about the symbolism of the design, and he told them he didn’t know if it had any particular symbolism. He said that they put a circle in the middle, which he thought could have stood for the sun or the Celestial Kingdom. He said that they used it many thousands of times all throughout the design of the temple - in the doors, fencing, exterior, interior, trimwork, floorplan, etc (see satellite photo above for the use of the symbol in the overall layout). When the design was originally shown to the General Authorities in Salt Lake they had sun stones, moon stones, and star stones on the exterior of the temple too (mirroring the Salt Lake and Nauvoo Temples), but the Brethren notified them that these symbols shouldn’t be used. So they removed these symbols, but they didn’t say anything about the interlocking squares symbol.
Once the temple was finished, Elder David B. Haight of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles escorted the media through the temple, as they are some of the first that get to go through. Someone from the media asked him what the symbol was, and what it represented, and Elder Haight was taken a little off-guard by that question. He said that it was probably just an architectural detail.
Br. Lewis said that a good friend of his, Stan Smith, who has been a regional representative, and was the project representative on the temple, was taking photos all the time during the construction of the temple. But this particular symbol bugged him for some reason. He took the photos he had down to the Church Historian’s Office in Salt Lake City and asked if they knew anything about it. They didn’t. But they suggested that he take them down to Hugh Nibley at BYU who might know something about it. So Br. Smith made an appointment with Br. Nibley, and sat down with him in his office and asked him if this symbol had a name. Nibley said something like, “Oh sure, it is the seal of King Melchizedek.” He also indicated that it was a symbol of Melchizedek’s power, kingdom, and as a type of name of Melchizedek, like a seal in wax.
Stan Smith called Br. Lewis to tell him the good news, and was quite excited about it. Br. Lewis wanted to verify it himself, so he made an appointment with Nibley too. Nibley verified it with Lewis as well, after which they had an extensive conversation about all things temples, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, etc., with Nibley in typical fashion referring to all three in the same sentence.
Br. Lewis said that President Hinckley would probably be interested to know this detail about the symbol, since he had met with the architects 4 times throughout the design of this temple, which was extremely unusual. So Lewis wrote a letter to President Hinckley, who Lewis said also verified it with Nibley.
Since then Br. Lewis has seen the same symbol used on the Newport Beach Temple, and also in several places in the Salt Lake Temple (like the door patrons enter with a beehive in the center), and he supposes that we will see it more and more as time goes on. But he was pleasantly surprised to have found out such an interesting detail about the symbol that he used throughout the San Diego Temple. He has been asked to speak hundreds of times about the design of the San Diego Temple in firesides and other occasions. He said a couple years ago he was asked to speak at an event of the Fine Arts Department at BYU about it, but wasn’t sure of the details of the occasion.
It is doubtful that there is a transcription anywhere of this story, so I took as many details down as I could on our phone conversation. Thanks to Br. Lewis for telling us this great story.
(To be continued…)
Notes:- San Diego Modernism Historic Context Statement, pg. 86, http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1054/files/San%20Diego%20Modenism%20Context.pdf. Modern San Diego biography, http://www.modernsandiego.com/LewisWilliam.html [↩]
13 Comments
Your post is very interesting. I have seen the 8 pointed star used in different designs for buildings, non-LDS. It is a common symbol used in Islam, and is used to reflect Islam in the floor plan of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia.
Since reading your post I’ve been trying to find good sources on its religious use. I found this site which you may find interesting, especially since it connects the symbol with Ur and Abraham. http://moroccandesign.com/eight-point-star
Bryce:
Great series of articles, and thanks for getting the actual story from the actual architect.
The San Diego temple is my favorite, and not just because it’s in my home town and I watched it get built (and helped to pay for it). The SOM motif really is everwhere; if you ever visit the temple, look closely at the elevators (which are octagonal rather than rectangular). ..bruce..
Wonderful story, and thank you for documenting it. Sometimes there is revelation and we don’t even know it is.
I love Nibley’s instant response: “Oh, sure … .” This reminds me of a personal story I have about him that I need to post on my blog . Although my story is NOT as inspiring, it is funnier.
Thank you all for your comments. I have seen the webpage you reference Chad, and it is a very good reference about the symbolism of the eight-pointed star.
I’ve visited the San Diego temple before, but just saw the exterior, and I had no clue at the time about this symbol. Now I want to go back.
This is fascinating! Thank you for sharing your interview. It is cool how the design ended up being inspired, as the team did not know about the symbolic significance until afterwards.
Thanks for the inside scoop! It’s so interesting when a different approach is taken–and for no apparent reason–like for the design of the SD temple.
Now, perhaps this isn’t the proper venue for this tangent (although I prefer to think of it as a ’secant’ ;), but I’ve been curious why the use of symbolism on Church edifices has fallen out of favor, or acknowledging that symbolism is present, and not just regarding temples. I know that the tour guides of the Conference Center are to no longer discuss religious symbolism present on at least the roof, although they discuss general symbolism of it.
Good question. I suppose it is because each has their own interpretation of symbolism, which is a given with symbols. But I still wish we discussed it more. The symbols aren’t there for us to ignore.
This post serves as a reminder that I need to stay-up on my RSS feeds. Awesome story! Thanks for sharing.
Bryce,
This is just so awesome!!
That is all I have to say.
Bryce, thank you for the wonderful info and for this fascinating topic.
Iif you have a moment please look here (using Google): piecesfrommyheart.net (”pieces from my heart.net” online quilting store from artist Sandy Gervais.) Then enter the term, “pattern 337 Illusions”. -Click on picture to enlarge…i ran across this pattern at a quilting store in Lehi, Utah, yesterday. I was more than surprised to see the Seal of Melchezidek, along with the interlaced trianges and another symbol. There is not a better photo of the pattern available, i even opened it to look inside. The author/artist doesn’t allude to any symbolism other than “illusions”.
Thank you! and thank you for sharing the great and inspiriting information.
You’re welcome Marise. That is interesting. Here is a direct link to the photo - link.
I read this series of articles this morning, and then spent the day with my mother - at the San Antonio Temple! I told the story to her, and we both had great fun finding this symbol on the carpet, on the altar, in the tile, and even a modified version in the beams!
Thanks for the fantastic insight!
Great Story. I also found this symbol in the albuqueque nm temple. A couple of things to add, this star in hinduism is called the star of Lakshmi and in Islam it’s called Rub el Hizb. The Islamic meaning is the closest I think to Melchizedek or the Melchizedek Priesthood.