Washington, d. C. , across Lafayette Square at the white house with the slavery and the president s neighborhood. As we begin tonights program please welcome the 15th rector of st. Johns church, reverend john fisher. [ applause ] welcome, good evening. My name is rob fisher. I am the rector of st. Johns church, and i am thrilled that our friends at the White House Historical association asked us to provide space for tonights conversation. Stewart asked if i would share a little bit about the history of this very historic room that you are sitting in tonight and so i will share with you that this church was completed in 1816. The architect was Benjamin Henry latrobe. Not only did he design this church, he was rewould abouting the white house after it was destroyed by the british in the war of 1812 and in 1818 he built Decatur House which is now the home of the White House Historical association and if you go inside the Decatur House and you look up, you see a very similar entrance. It i
I am the rector of st. Johns church, and i am thrilled that our friends at the White House Historical association asked us to provide space for tonights conversation. Stewart asked if i would share a little bit about the history of this very historic room that you are sitting in tonight and so i will share with you that this church was completed in 1816. The architect was Benjamin Henry latrobe. Not only did he design this church, he was working on rebuilding the white house after it was destroyed by the british in the war of 1812, and in 1818 he built Decatur House which is now the home of the White House Historical association and if you go inside the Decatur House and you look up, you see a very similar entrance. It is almost like a miniature of this dome that we have in our church space and the Original Church was built as a greek cross. So it was an even four sides and just six years later in 1822, they expanded the Church Building to make room for more seating. We dont know who t
We dont know who the architect was who did that expansion and who built the bell tower. Tragically, latrobe had already died at that time. He had died in new orleans. And i imagine there might be some historians in the room. And if anyone is interested in helping us solve the mystery, we would love to know. The bell tower is very beautiful addition to the church and inside the bell tower, it houses a bell that was forged by paul reveres son, joseph revere. Stamped on it, it says 1822 boston revere. Its not the only revere bell that came to washington, but it is the only one that is still in its place and being youd for its oernlg purpose. Its interesting, too, to think about this building. This is the only building on Lafayette Square that goes back to the era that it goes back to, that is still being used for the purpose for which it was built more than 200 years later. And im very happy to say that we are open most days of the week and we welcome anybody who likes to come in and just
applause welcome good evening. I am rob fisher, the director of st. Johns church. I am thrilled that our friends at the White House Historical association asked us to provide space for tonights conversation. Stewart asked if i would share a little bit about the history of this very historic room that you are sitting in tonight and so i will share with you that this church was completed in 1816. The architect was Benjamin Henri literal. Not only did he design this church but he was working on rebuilding the white house after it was destroyed in the war of 1812. In 1818 in 1818, he built what is now the home of the historical association. You see a similar entrance. It was built as a green cross and was an even four sides. In 1822, they expanded the Church Building to make room for more seating. We do not know who the architect was who did that expansion and built the bell power belltower. Tragically, he had already died at that time, in new orleans. There might be some historians in the
Institutional roles that should rise above their policy differences. At 8 00 p. M. Ght eastern on cspans q a. Next, Smithsonian Institution secretary lonnie bunch and Philanthropist David Rubenstein discuss the central role of slavery in antebellum washington, d. C. At historic st. Johns church across Lafayette Square from the white house. The White House Historical association in hosted this event in recognition of their new initiative, slavery in the president s neighborhood. Quite please welcome the ,irector of st. Johns Church Reverend fisher. [applause] welcome. Good evening. Im the director st. Johns church. I am thrilled our friends at the White House Historicals associate association asked us to have tonights conversation. I will first share little bit about the history of this historic room tonight. This church was completed in 1816. The architect was Benjamin Henry and not only did he design this church but he was working on rebuilding the white house after it was destroyed b