The Sikh Gurdwara or Sikh Gurdwara - San Jose (a gurdwara is the Sikh place of worship) was founded in San Jose, California, USA in 1985 by leaders of the then-rapidly growing Santa Clara Valley Sikh community. Initially the community met in a rented community center, but soon bought a small building in east San Jose. After buying nearby land in 1995, they decided it would be too expensive to build in the city limits, so they sold that land and bought a larger property further east. The first phase of the project of almost 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) was completed in 2004. The second phase was completed in April 2011, making it the largest gurdwara in North America at 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2). The chief architect and designer of the project is the late Malkiat Singh Sidhu. The large