saw a picture of the temple in the possession of Mormon missionaries in Japan. Although there is an eyewitness who believes he saw the attempted bombing and a former missionary who says he met the Japanese convert, historians have found little supporting evidence that would substantiate these stories. Renovation Beginning in May 1976, the temple was closed for a two-year remodeling project, expanding from to over . Church president Spencer W. Kimball rededicated the temple on June 13, 1978. A $5.5 million renovation, renewal, and beautification project along Hale Laa Boulevard leading to the temple began in 2003, lasting 14 months: Norfolk pines suffering from termite infestation were replaced with royal palms, new decorative lighting was added to the terraces, and landscaped roundabouts were put in place. At the same time, the Visitors' Center was upgraded with interactive kiosks and new displays. There is now a cut-away model of the temple on display which allows visitors to see its interior since only LDS Church members are allowed to enter after a temple is dedicated. It took the artisan team over eight months to build the temple model in the US and more than a week to reassemble the model for display after being shipped to Hawaii. In December 2008, the Laie Hawaii Temple closed again for structural and seismic upgrades and to restore the ordinance rooms to their original appearance and progressive-style presentation of the endowment (still using film). The baptistry was repaired and renovated. The temple was rededicated on November 21, 2010, by Thomas S. Monson. In 2020, like all the church's other temples, the Laie Hawaii Temple was closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Architecture LDS Church president Joseph F. Smith wanted the architecture of the Laie Hawaii Temple to resemble Solomon's Temple referred to in the biblical canon. The temple is often compared to the Cardston Alberta Temple, designed by young architects Hyrum Pope and Harold W. Burton. Pope and Burton's design was also used for Laie, and their work is rooted in the Prairie style architecture made popular by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the early twentieth-century. The temples also evoke Mesoamerican architectural motifs, a favored theme of Burton's. The temple sits on an site that was once part of a large sugarcane plantation. Construction of the temple first began in February 1916. Native materials consisting of crushed lava rock were used to build the