The Russian Bishop's House (), once the Russian Mission Orphanage (), is a historic house museum and

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

at Lincoln and Monastery Streets in

Sitka, Alaska Sitka (; ) is a municipal home rule, unified Consolidated city-county, city-borough in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Alaska. It was under Russian America, Russian rule from 1799 to 1867. The city is situated on the west side of Ba ...

. Built in 1841–43, this log structure is one of the oldest surviving buildings of

Russian America Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, and was one of the centerpieces of the

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

church's efforts to spread its influence among the natives of Alaska. It was the home and administrative center of Ivan Veniaminov, the first Bishop of Alaska, later canonized as

Innocent of Alaska Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is prior to the sense of legal guilt and is a primal emotion connected with the sense of self. It is often confused as being the op ...

. The house is now a unit of

Sitka National Historical Park Sitka National Historical Park (earlier known as Indian River Park and Totem Park) is a national historical park in Sitka in the U.S. state of Alaska. It was redesignated as a national historical park from its previous status as national monum ...

, and is administered by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

Description

The Russian Bishop's House is a two-story log structure, measuring about . It is divided into nine bays, each measuring about (one

sazhen Historical Russian units of measurement were standardized and used in the Russian Empire and after the Russian Revolution, but were abandoned after 21 July 1925, when the Soviet Union adopted the metric system. The Tatar system is very similar t ...

) square, and covered by a hip roof. The east and west ends of the building are further extended by shed-roof "galleries" that are wide, which historically provided space for stairwells, storage, latrines, and entrances. The exterior has undergone a number of alterations since construction. The south facade was sheathed in clapboarding c. 1851, and the galleries were roofed in metal around that time. In 1887 the galleries were sheathed in board-and-batten siding. The interior was repeatedly altered over the decades, and underwent a major restoration once the property was acquired by the

1973.

Secondary buildings

The property on which the Bishop's House stands includes two secondary buildings associated with the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. East of the main house stands the Old School, a two-story wood-frame structure built in 1897 to provide a kindergarten and girls' school. House 105 is a -story wood-frame structure which stands facing Monastery Street. It was originally on a separate parcel of land, and was apparently moved to its present location in the 1950s.

History

The Russian Bishop's House was built between 1841 and 1843 by Finnish laborers brought in by the

Russian American Company The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the United American Company. Emperor Paul I of Russia chartered the company in the Ukase of 17 ...

, to provide housing for Reverend Ivan Veniaminov, who had been appointed the first Bishop of Alaska by the Russian Orthodox Church. From his seat in Sitka, Veniaminov oversaw the spread of Orthodox missionary and educational work to the indigenous peoples of southern Alaska, nearly doubling the number of Orthodox worshippers in the region between 1841 and 1860. Missionary efforts were continued after the United States purchased Alaska in 1867 and were only significantly cut back after funding cuts in the wake of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

in 1917. The seat of the Russian diocese was relocated to

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in 1872, and the Bishop's House was repurposed to provide housing quarters for priests. Its first floor also served as an inn for a time. In 1903 a bishop was once again assigned to a district with its seat at Sitka. For most of the 20th century, the upper floors housed a chapel and the quarters of the bishop, while the ground floor was used in a variety of ways. In the 1920s it housed a printing operation that produced, in addition to church publications, the ''Sitka Sun'' and the ''Sitka Tribune''. The Old School was used as a church school building until 1922, and as a public school thereafter. House 105, while not of architectural note, was used as a church rental property for many years, and is one of the oldest buildings in Sitka. The property was designated a

in 1962, and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as the "Russian Mission Orphanage" in 1966, reflecting its major function at that time. The National Register designation was altered to "Russian Bishop's House" in 1980. The Russian Bishop's House is now owned and managed by the

as a unit of

. It is open to the public on ranger-guided tours.

References

{{authority control National Historic Landmarks in Alaska Houses in Sitka, Alaska Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Alaska Protected areas of Sitka, Alaska Historic house museums in Alaska Museums in Sitka, Alaska Native American museums in Alaska Protected areas established in 1972 National Park Service areas in Alaska 1972 establishments in Alaska Houses completed in 1842 Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Sitka, Alaska

Description

Secondary buildings

History

See also

References