Location

ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, established in 1815, stands opposite the White House on the north side of Lafayette Square, once known as President’s Square. It was organized as a parish church for residents in the neighborhoods in the west end of the District of Columbia, including occupants of the White House. Beginning with President James Madison, a pew has been reserved for any President who attends a service at St. John’s. Today that pew, number 54, is known as the “President’s Pew.” Since Madison, every person who has held the office of President of the United States has attended at least one regular or other religious service at St. John’s. Several Presidents have been communicants. Thus, St. John’s has come to be known as the “Church of the Presidents.” The architect of the church was Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who also assisted in the rebuilding of the U. S. Capitol and the White House after they were partially destroyed by fire in the War of 1812. The church is registered as a National Historic Landmark.

The sanctuary windows of the church are regarded as outstanding examples of the art forms of painted and stained glass from the nineteenth century. During the 1880s, the church retained the services of Madame Lorin, Curator of Glass at Chartres Cathedral in France, to design more than twenty stained glass windows including the unique vertical representation of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper above the altar. A few modern windows have since been added, notably the two “Sacramental Windows” of translucent blue in the north transept on the main floor of the church, and the McCants and Red Cross windows directly opposite in the south transept, on either side the Lorin-designed window given by President Chester Arthur in memory of his wife, Ellen Herndon Arthur.

St. John’s parishioners are active in the life of the city, the nation, and the world, with ministries and partnerships in Washington, D. C., New Orleans, South Africa, and the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.

The Parish House adjoining the church at 1525 H Street was the place where Alexander Baring, Lord Ashburton and U. S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster negotiated the 1842 treaty that formally established the border between Canada and the United States from Maine to Minnesota. The Parish House served for a period as the British Legation, prior to the Civil War. Also known as Ashburton House, it is a National Historic Landmark.