A seven-stage tower projects from the street-facing front, square in shape except for the crowning open circular belfry and cupola.

[2] Frank Sandford was an ordained Baptist minister, who in 1893 left his ministry in Topsham, Maine on a quest to evangelize the world.

The temple's property grew to include a large quadrangular complex, of which the present building is the only surviving element.

[3] Life at the complex was strictly regulated by Sandford, who claimed to be a new Elijah, and many of his followers sold off their possessions to join his "Holy Ghost and Us" society.

[2] Following a misguided and undersupplied voyage to Greenland, in which six crew died of scurvy and related illnesses, he was arrested on manslaughter charges in 1911.