The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released an exterior rendering for the Wellington New Zealand Temple.
The rendering shows the temple is planned as a two-story edifice of approximately 14,900 square feet.
The rendering was first published Monday, June 17, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
A temple for Wellington was announced by President Russell M. Nelson in April 2022 general conference, one of 17 listed in the conference’s Sunday afternoon general session.
The size dimensions were released concurrently with the Nov. 28, 2022, announcement of the Wellington temple’s site location — 3.35 acres near Okowai Road and Whitford Brown Avenue in Aotea, Porirua, New Zealand. An ancillary building with arrival facilities and patron housing is also planned for the site.
Over 108,000 Church members in more than 210 congregations reside in the South Pacific island nation. Missionary work began in New Zealand in 1853, including among the native Māori people, with the first Latter-day Saint baptized in 1854 and the first congregation organized the following year.
The Wellington temple will be the Church’s third house of the Lord in New Zealand. The Hamilton New Zealand Temple was dedicated in 1958 and then rededicated in 2022 after extensive renovations. The Auckland New Zealand Temple has been under construction since June 2020.
