Steeple Building Repairs – Christiansted, St. Croix VI

City:
Christiansted, St. Croix, VIRGIN-ISLANDS

Site Type:
Archaeology and History, Historical Restoration

New Deal Agencies:
Public Works Administration (PWA), Public Works Funding

Started:
1933

Completed:
1940

Quality of Information:
Moderate

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

The PWA carried out repairs and preservation work for the Steeple Building in 1933. Located on the Christiansted National Historic Site, the structure was built by the government of the Danish West Indies and Guinea Company to serve as a Lutheran Church for the Danish colonial venture on the Virgin Island.  The building was subsequently converted to various uses. “Constructed in 1753 to house the first faith community established in Christiansted, the Steeple Building was originally the Church of our Lord God of Sabaoth. Its current name comes from the steeple that served for generations as a landmark for mariners entering the harbor. In the 1830s, the building fell into disrepair and the congregation voted to move to another space. For the next 100 years, the building served a variety of functions for the colonial government, including a bakery, storehouse, and town hall.”

Building/structure dates:  1750-1753 Initial Construction;  ca. 1780- ca. 1789 Subsequent Work;  1793-1796 Subsequent Work;  1917 Subsequent Work;  1933 Subsequent Work;  1961-1963 Subsequent Work.

Source notes

U.S. Department of the Interior, Annual Report of the Governor of the Virgin Islands for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1940, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1940, p. 70. Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. (https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.vi0117.photos?st=gallery), accessed May 16, 2017. National Parks Service, Christiansted National Historic Site, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, (https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/american_latino_heritage/Christiansted_National_Historic_Site.html), accessed on May 16, 2017.

Site originally submitted by Brent McKee on May 16, 2017.

Location Info


1 Company Street
Christiansted, VI

Coordinates: 17.7459964, -64.70280939999998

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