wow, the author uses some interesting descriptions...I get the feeling he isn't all that happy about this building.
For example: "radical conservative upstart", "bold incursion into the hierachical fabric of Philedelphia" and "has planted its flag on the city's premier civic, cultural and religious space."
But this paragraph seems to be the most telling:
"...Mormon Temple, which will serve about 41,000 members in parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, stands virtually parallel to the chocolate-brown Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, which claims 1.4 million Catholic faithful in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs. The temple is nearly equal in size to the cathedral, and its assertive architecture trumpets its ambition for all to see."
I live in Philly. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised that the temple fit in with the surrounding architecture, well until you look up and see the gaudy, gold, mass-produced Moroni.
The way I see it is now we have a location to protest when the church does another dumb-ass Prop 8 move (which they will).