So.... been poking about Wookieepedia, and it seems I've found one of the gems that simply cannot be reconciled into one another.

While most Canon and Legend sources can be somehow, explained to fit together, some better than others (Boba Fetts past is a prime example), it seem the Jedi Temple is not one of them.

On one hand, you have Canon, wherein the Emperor moves into the Jedi Temple and turns it into his personal residence, renaming it the Imperial Palace.

Then you have Legends, where he moves into the Palace, renovates and expands it, and the Jedi Temple falls into ruin and is generally ignored until the New Republic reclaim it.

What version do you prefer?

Realism wise: If Poppa Palpatine doesn't move into the Temple, then in a city like Coruscant, the temple would just be eaten up by other development....

Story wise, having him cordon it off and installing security and traps for returning or potential jedi to get in trouble with works way better.

I prefer him building the Imperial Palace not far from the Senate Hall. After looting the Jedi Temple, I'm sure it would have been consumed by the neverending development of Coruscant's cityscape.

What happened to the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople? What happened to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem? Ka'aba in Mecca?

All across Europe, Asia, the Middle-East... people built temples, the Christians turned them into churches, the Muslims turned them into Mosques (with a number of places changing hands and going back and forth a number of time).

Leaving the Jedi Temple to rot doesn't make sense. And only the most foolish of Jedi would return to Coruscant in the years between and following the execution of Order 66 and the conversion of the Jedi Temple into the Imperial Palace, anyway. Further, the Jedi Temple is located on a font of Dark Side energy/power, putting it firmly in the camp of, "A church built on a pagan holy site." (Or what somebody writing a horror movie in the 1950s would think that this could mean.)

Combined the Dark Side energy and the symbolism of the utter destruction of the Jedi Order with the Emperor supplanting the religion of the Jedi with his own personality cult, it makes perfect sense for Sidious to build the Palace of Saint Palpatine on the site of the Jedi Temple, IMHO.

It wouldn't surprise me if Tython is now site to a dark side training academy dedicated to turning out inquisitors, assassins, and Emperor's hands. (Built on the ruins of the ancient Jedi temples, of course.)

It's not as if it matters a whole lot, but in my personal campaign continuity I had my players visit Coruscant (this was before the recent "deletion" of the Legends material). In this case I treated the Imperial palace as a separate building adjacent to the Jedi temple, and the temple itself having been converted to Palpatine's personal museum-slash-gloating chamber.

Well, why can't you have it both ways? When Palpatine becomes Emperor, he's in Imperial Palace. With renovations, it grows and grows until the Jedi Temple is annexed. Palpatine gets good press for having a rotted burnt-out husk of a building renovated in a bout of urban renewal, and it's a great publicity coup, too--the temple of the Jedi, those Imperial traitors, has been incorporated into the hub of the Galactic Empire! Everyone wins!

Of course, for Palpatine, this is an excellent opportunity to study all of the material the Jedi have amassed throughout the centuries, and it provides an excellent excuse to have armed guards at all times--which is why Starkiller had to face off against so many Royal Guard variants in Force Unleashed. Now, Palpatine probably doesn't do much in the way of actual renovation. Why would he? He probably just seals it off, and picks through the Jedi archives at his leisure. No sense in having an underling do that, except possibly for Vader. It wouldn't make sense to have one's potential rivals get too strong, after all. So he probably goes through it himself. The temple falls into disrepair, and by the time the Emperor gets tossed down the shaft by Vader, it's not really thought of by anyone outside of the die-hard Imperial hardliners as part of Imperial Palace.

Personally, I find it more satisfying that Palpatine would have had the Jedi Temple left a smoldering ruin, using his authority to have the area cordoned off and left as a macabre memorial to those "crazy heretics" and a reminder of what happens to those who dare to challenge his authority and thus upset the "hard-won" peace and security that Imperial citizens get to enjoy.

A lot of the material on the Imperial Palace was created long before having a Jedi Temple on Coruscant was even a thing, so even if canon says that both places are one and the same, I'll be keeping them separate for any games I run that might wind up taking the party to Imperial Center.

Takes over an enemy stronghold... given it's size, I have to wonder how well they could secure it. Booby traps, secret entrances, hidden archives and repositories. Who knows what else is hidden in there... Best to just raze it to the "ground" and build anew.

Nothing says I have totally dominated you like making the place your own. Besides Palpatine was a bit arrogant so moving in fits his personality. Added benefit from a GM perspective is that all those hidden archives and secret entrances and repositories make for awesome story potential that allows your players moments to be totally awesome.

Actually the Inquistors move into the Jedi Temple for awhile before getting thier own fortress on another planet.