Vedanta Society Old Temple
San Francisco, California, United States
The dome-and-castle temple of 1905-1908 in San Francisco, described by the society as the first Hindu temple built in the Western Hemisphere and still holding classes and worship.
Swami Vivekananda founded the Vedanta Society of Northern California in 1900, and his successor Swami Trigunatitananda designed this temple with architect Joseph A. Leonard: the first two stories rose in 1905 and the towers and third floor completed it in 1908. The building is an argument in architecture, a clapboard base crowned by a Bengal-style double-bulb dome, an octagonal dome modeled on the Shiva temples of Dakshineswar, miniature Benares temple domes, a Taj Mahal-style dome and a European castle tower, all intended, per the society's own account, to symbolize the harmony of religions. It survived the 1906 earthquake while under construction.
The society calls it the first universal Hindu temple in the West, and the historical record describes it as the first Hindu temple built in the Western Hemisphere; the claim is attributed here rather than asserted. Services continue today, with Friday scripture classes on the Bhagavad Gita and Sunday school, making this one of the oldest continuously used Hindu sacred spaces in the United States.
Visiting
The Old Temple at 2963 Webster Street holds active worship: Friday class at 7:30pm during lecture season, Sunday school at 11am; check the service calendar before attending.
Photo: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vedanta_Society_Building_-_2963_Webster_Street,_San_Francisco.jpg), CC BY 2.0, Anomalous_A.
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