Crews break ground on the Island's first LDS temple in Langford
The 11,400-square-foot temple on Mantle Heights Road will take nearly three years to build, and members won't have to ferry to the Mainland to pray anymore.
Hundreds of guests gathered on a rock-blasted Langford mountain Saturday to break ground on the Island's first temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Victoria British Columbia Temple will sit on 4.7 acres at 1151 Mantle Heights Rd., a single-storey building topped by a spire overlooking Langford Lake. Geotechnical engineers and the general contractor were expected on site early Monday to start the groundwork. Construction is expected to take nearly three years.
The church hasn't revealed the cost, but past LDS temples suggest tens of millions of dollars. Langford council approved the project in 2024, the same spring church president Russell M. Nelson announced it among 15 new temples worldwide.
For the Island's roughly 4,000 members, the draw is practical as much as spiritual. Right now, worshippers cross to the Langley temple, which opened in 2010 and is currently the only one in the province. "It's a historic event, and it's important to the average member because the time involved, particularly if you're working, you just can't get to a temple every day," said Victoria LDS spokesman Graham Sanderson.
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