[1] The church is home to an Episcopal congregation organized in 1732, with roots in the city's 17th-century founding.

Its main facade has a slightly projecting center section, which has a recessed entry, as do the two flanking bays.

[2] Portsmouth's Episcopalian congregational history dates to 1638, when a church was established in the Strawbery Banke area.

In 1732 a new congregation was organized, and established in a wooden church on the site of the present St. John's.

[3] The present edifice was erected in 1807, and was the first brick church building in the state.