Phila. Mormon temple to be built on North Broad Street

A new Mormon temple will be constructed on the 400 block of North Broad Street across from the Philadelphia School District headquarters, the church announced today.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it will build the temple on a parking lot it owns on Broad Street between Noble and Hamilton Streets.

According to city tax records, the church paid $4 million in October 2007 for three lots totalling 39,000 square feet -- a little less than an acre. The land is now occupied by a non-commercial parking lot surrounded by chain-link fence.

Kim Farah, a spokeswoman at the church headquarters in Salt Lake City, said no details are available on when construction would begin.

However, most temples are built within three to five years of an announcement.

Mormon Church president Thomas S. Monson said on Saturday that the church planned to build five temples worldwide: in Philadelphia; near Kansas City, Mo.; in Calgary, Canada; Cordoba, Argentina; and Rome.

The 13 million-member churchhas 128 operating temples worldwide, including 61 in the United States. Construction or plans for 12 more are in the works.

The Philadelphia temple would be Pennsylvania's first.

Architecturally, temples are towering white buildings with tall steeples. Many are topped with a trumpet-blowing golden angel draped in flowing robes. The figure represents the angel Moroni, whom Mormons believe led founder Joseph Smith to a set of buried golden plates that, when translated, became known as the Book of Mormon, the faith's central text.

Pennsylvania is known for some major events in church history, according to information on a church Web site.

Smith and his wife, Emma, lived in Harmony, now Oakland, Pa., from 1827 to 1830, where he translated much of the Book of Mormon. Members also believe Smith received the priesthood on the banks of the Susquehanna River, resulting in the first church baptisms.

Today, the Mormon church has nearly 48,000 members in Pennsylvania "who will benefit from the newly announced temple," according to the church Web site.