Catherineberg Will Soon Be A Museum, Ending Unofficial Status As VI Governor's Residence
ST. CROIX –Catherineberg, the sprawling mansion sitting atop St. Thomas’s Denmark Hill is a historic, beautiful edifice owned by the West Indian Company (W.I.C.O.), and has served as a residence for governors, with the last territorial leader to reside in the building being Charles Turnbull.
Governor John P. de Jongh, who led the USVI from 2007 to January 2, 2015, decided to live in his own house, and current governor Kenneth Mapp stays at the Ritz-Carlton when in St. Thomas, claiming that Catherineberg, because it had not been used for 8 years by the prior governor, had become unsuitable to reside in.
To be clear, Catherineberg, although it has served as a residence for multiple governors, is not the official residence of Virgin Islands governors; Government House in St. Thomas is. Nonetheless, because of its expansiveness and history, it was willingly occupied by past leaders.
The housing issues of the current governor is well documented: Mr. Mapp’s initial dwelling after his election as governor at an Estate Nazareth mansion, dubbed Villa Fratelli Cresta, invited controversy when it was revealed that the governor’s four-and-a-half-month stay there had cost the people of the Virgin Islands $107,563.56. With a scandal building, Mr. Mapp left the mansion, only to move into the Ritz-Carlton when in St. Thomas, where is currently stays, with a true cost to the people of the Virgin Islands yet to be disclosed.
Read more: http://viconsortium.com/featured/catherineberg-will-soon-be-a-museum-ending-unofficial-status-as-governors-residence/