The Priest's House

For approximately eighty years, this modest structure on Monastery Street across from the Bishop's House provided housing for priests who served the Russian Orthodox Church. Built in the summer of 1887 under the direction of Father Vladimir Donskoi, it replaced a deteriorating log cabin from the Russian era. A map of lands and properties transferred from Russia to the United States after the purchase of Alaska in 1867 had designated the former log building as House 105, and the Russian Orthodox Church transferred that name to the new frame structure. On 22 July 1892, about five years after the new House 105 was built, Donskoi wrote that its 900-dollar construction debt had been paid; he reported that the building had four rooms, was surrounded by land, and rented for ten dollars a month. In 1895, Donskoi's successor, Father Anatolii Kamenskii, noted that House 105 was flimsily built and lacked insulation, making winter heating costs so high that renters were discouraged. Priest Andrei Kashevarov and his large family lived there in the early 1900s, and he and other clergy disliked the cold building and the high cost of heating. In 1936, the land on which House 105 stood, about 100 feet north of the Bishop's House, was sold to the City of Sitka. House 105 was moved to its present location in the 1950s. Over the years, the building served various purposes, including storage and a construction office during restoration of the Russian Bishop's House. After a careful rehabilitation that preserved the appearance of the original structure, the former Priest's House became the administrative office of Sitka National Historical Park.

Sitka, Alaska · United States