The Angelus Temple Across from Echo Park in Los Angeles, July 2008

This building reminded me of a modern-day LA architectural version of the Roman Colosseum.


Angelus Temple is the central house of worship of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, California.

It was constructed under the leadership of Aimee Semple McPherson and dedicated on the First of January, 1923. The temple, located opposite Echo Park Lake, had an original seating capacity of 5,300, huge for a church then and now, but suited well for the crowds McPherson attracted as an evangelical sensation of the 1920s and 1930s. A 2002 renovation left it with a capacity of about 3,500.

The lighted cross, atop the temple's dome, is a longstanding landmark. The entire temple was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1992.

L. I. F. E. Bible College was founded in a building adjacent to Angelus Temple. The building is currently the home of the Angelus Temple Hispanic Church. The former Queen of Angels Hospital is the base of operations for the Dream Center, which housed many people from the Gulf States displaced after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

It is currently pastored by Matthew and Caroline Barnett.

Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Temple