The Mormon temple in Kensington, known formally as the Washington, D.C., Temple, will open to the public for a month this fall for the first time in more than 40 years, following two years of renovations.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced on its website Thursday that the temple will have an open house most days from Sept. 24 through Oct. 31. It will not be open Sept. 27 and Oct. 3, 4, 11, 18 and 25.
Information about tickets will be released later this summer, the church stated.
The 160,000 square-foot temple closed in March 2018 for a two-year renovation project that involved upgrading its electrical, plumbing and lighting systems. Other improvements are being done inside, too.
The church wrote that it expects the work to be completed this summer. There will be a formal rededication ceremony on Dec. 13.
As of 2018, the temple was serving about 123,000 worshippers from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The temple — a towering, castle-like structure visible to drivers on the Beltway — hasn’t been open to the public since the fall of 1974, when it opened. More than 750,000 visitors toured the building during that open house, including then-First Lady Betty Ford, according to the temple’s website.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media
