The historic Louisenhoj estate perched atop St. Thomas is more than the island’s most mesmerizing recent real estate offering. The former plantation focal point — with Magens Bay on one side and Charlotte Amalie on the other — was foundational to what the Virgin Islands is today.
Once belonging to members of the Danish Magens family — yes, those Magens — Louisenhoj was built on the Estate Zufriedenheit plantation, which fell into rapid disrepair after the abolition of slavery. In 1917, New York multimillionaire Arthur S. Fairchild followed the U.S. flag to the Virgin Islands in search of his private paradise.
Fairchild built on the Louisenhoj ruins what is now broadly known as the Castle — by all accounts, a resplendent, decadent mashup of classical southern European and colonial Caribbean styles. In 1943, Fairchild deeded 268-acres around Magens Bay to the people of the Virgin Islands, creating the island’s primary tourist attraction and point of local pride. The Castle and its satellite property were gifted, willed, sold, or otherwise passed between new owners.
Over time, the properties fell into disrepair again.
When the Castle’s three-bedroom, two-bath guardhouse — sometimes called the gatehouse — and an adjacent artists’ loft were put on the market in early July, gasps from would-be buyers around the world nearly blew over Seaglass Properties realtor Tonia Garnett.
“Oh my God. I’ve had people flying in. I have two more flying in now and another one from St. Croix. I have another one from California and another one from North Carolina. The response has been amazing,” said Garnett, who has been showing the property and entertaining offers for more than a week. “I mean, I was always curious about the property.”
She’s not alone. It’s not too much of a stretch to speculate that nearly every visitor to St. Thomas in the last century has passed by the stone roadside curiosity where Maude Proudfoot Drive to-and-from Charlotte Amalie meets eastbound Valdemar Hill Drive, and Hull Bay Road toward Drake’s Seat meets Magens Bay Road. The asking price was $800,000 as of Thursday.
The 1,800-square-foot guardhouse and artists’ loft are set on 0.32 acres accessed by a prominent circular driveway. Thick stone-and-scrabble walls with arched passages and old-world wooden floors give the property a time-machine quality.
While historic, charming, and undeniably beautiful, the modern amenities need to be overhauled, Garnett said. Electricity and plumbing works likely haven’t been upgraded since the 1960s and, while functional, won’t meet modern requirements. Garnett described the kitchen as falling in on itself. Ceiling fans and other fixtures sag in a way seemingly desperate for help.
After squatters were removed, the property was cleaned up to temporarily house a caretaker who looks after the place and keeps unwanted visitors away, she said. Although certainly historic, the structure falls outside any historic preservation zone, Garnett said, so new owners would not have to comply with the same rules as owners of structures in parts of Charlotte Amalie.
Michael Creque, a St. Thomas Historical Trust board member, remembered attending events at the house in the 1980s and described it as elegant and refined.
“Wonderful parties. It was immaculate,” Creque said.
As a young teenager, Lisa Curreri lived in the Louisenhoj Castle behind the guardhouse in the 1950s.
“Talk about Disney World. When was the last time you were living in a castle?” Curreri said with a laugh.
In those years, when there was neither house nor road on Peterborg, and Skyline Drive was only partially paved, the Castle, for all its grandeur, lacked hot water. The guardhouse was largely empty, she said.
Although Curreri had only fleeting memories of the guardhouse, she was certain of a ghost that walked the Castle halls.
“You could hear the footsteps walking from the kitchen wing all the way into the living room and up the stairs, up into the tower,” she said. Her father, uncle, and even the family Great Dane sensed the spirit she speculated may be of Arthur S. Fairchild — roaming the home he so carefully put together.
“It was such a labor of love to build it, why would you not remain,” Curreri said. “It was an absolutely stunning property. The stonework in the castle itself is mind blowing.”
The guardhouse contains a less spectral mystery. Someone painted a very large mural inside. It seems to depict different layers of potential existence, from hustling post-industrial city life, to a sort of Paradise where playful cherubs reside, to what looks like wine-soaked bacchanalia. The mural stretches up a staircase and over several walls. It’s been damaged in some areas by time and weather.
Garnett said she was researching potential authorship of the artwork. Creque and local historian Felipe Ayala Jr., another member of the Historical Trust board, were also unsure but said it may have been created by a muralist they both knew in the 1980s. They were working to confirm the identity.
St. Croix Source
Local news, News, Real Estate News
