{172} Before us stands the completed structure, the visible result of four decades of devoted toil,--a period marked in the beginning by poverty and penury followed by relative prosperity and plenty. The impression produced by a first view of the exterior is that of massiveness coupled with a sense of assured stability. Closer examination and more intimate acquaintance serve to intensify this early impression, while revealing numerous details of uniqueness in plan and of excellence in construction. As to architectural design the Temple belongs to a class of its own. Originality rather than novelty characterizes every prominent feature. And yet there is nothing apparent that speaks of strained effect nor of conscious effort for departure from more conventional lines. The Temple is no oddity in architecture; on the contrary it is strictly in place both as to material environment and spiritual atmosphere. The building is of composite style, presenting features of both the Gothic and the Roman. By architects of experience it has been described as a modification of the Round Gothic, while others have called it Romanesque, in that it follows in part the castellated style so highly developed in England. But, even if this description be true as to the exterior, it is wholly inapplicable within. There are no high-vaulted Gothic ceilings, nor massive beams after the style Romanesque; on the contrary {173} the interior partakes rather of the nature of Renaissance design.[1] The Temple was constructed for specific use; it was intended for service widely different from that of cathedral, tabernacle, mosque, or synagogue; and the building was planned and patterned to suit its distinctive purpose. Such was and is the reason for its being, the explanation of its design, both vindication and justification of its plan. As has been shown, the plans of the building were made known, and a fairly detailed description thereof was published in 1854.[2] A careful examination of the structure as it now appears shows that in every essential particular the original plan of the exterior has been followed almost to exactness. Details of spires, turrets, and finials, had not been determined when the design was first announced; and in these as in certain other particulars the original plan has been added to; but no essential alteration has been introduced. As it stands, the building is one hundred eighty-six feet six inches long, and one hundred eighteen feet six inches wide including ground-level extensions of the corner towers, or ninety-nine feet wide in the main body. The side walls are one hundred sixty-seven feet six inches high; the west center tower has a height of two hundred {174} and four feet, and the corresponding tower at the east rises six feet higher. The entire area covered by the building is twenty-one thousand eight hundred and fifty square feet.