History of the
2009 DC Design House
3238 O Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007
The rectory for St. John's Church is a three-story Victorian mansion, with center hall, staircase, handsome reception and dining rooms, high ceilings, and mansard roof. It was built in 1874-1875 at a cost of $12,000. The first occupant was the eleventh rector, the Reverend Addison Atkins; previous to this, rectors had boarded elsewhere. It remains a fine example of period architecture, despite changes, such as the large 20th century kitchen, combining two earlier summer and winter kitchens. Most recently, playground equipment has been added to the rear of the house for the new St. John's Episcopal Preschool.
The rectory is built on Lot 121 of the Beatty and Hawkins Addition which John Kreager of Frederick County Maryland purchased in 1770. It was sold in 1809 for $250 and passed through several hands until it was acquired in 1836 by Richard Cruikshank, of a family of booksellers from Philadelphia, who sold Lot 121 and 25 feet to the south to St. John's Vestry in 1855 for $240. The Cruikshanks lived at 40 Potomac Street, just south of the church, and may well have had a connection with John "Crookshank", owner of a "Boot and show manufactory" in 1794 and an original sponsor of St. John's.