The Fraser Mansion at the corner of Connecticut Avenue at 20th and R streets stands out, as you can see in this DCist photo. In a sea of older and newer commercial buildings a few blocks north of Dupont Circle stands the distinguished red stone mansion, its giant porte-cochere meeting the sidewalk with a majestic portal leading inside. It’s also Washington’s Scientology House, and while Clearwater, Fla., might be a more important Scientology center, Washington is where L. Ron Hubbard started Scientology when he was studying at George Washington University. We aren’t sure to call it a religion, cult or a pyramid scheme (feel free to post your thoughts in comments), but that’s not the point of this post. When DCist was in New York before Thanksgiving, we got a chance to interview a former Washington resident, who, on a whim, decided to go on a tour of the Fraser Mansion with friends when they were recovering from a tough hangover.
“It all started with a Dos Manos at Baja Fresh,” says DCist’s source on the tour. Let’s call him Rob for the sake of this exploration.
Recovering from a night of drinking, Rob and a three friends were walking past the Scientology House when they saw the sign: “Let Scientology detoxify yourself from drugs and alcohol.” It seemed like a perfect excuse to take a look inside one of the city’s more mysterious places. And to our knowledge, the Masons and Nicholas Cage are not involved.
