Who was the architect or construction company responsible for the buildings on Little Saint James and Great Saint James?

1. Edward “Ed” Tuttle: the architect most often named for Little St. James

Multiple overviews of Little Saint James identify Ed Tuttle’s architecture practice as responsible for the renovation of the island’s main house—described as a colonnaded villa-style compound—and say the renovation wrapped up sometime after March 2003 ^{[1] [2] [6]}. Profiles that trace Epstein’s purchases and development repeatedly credit Tuttle, an architect known for luxury resort work, with designing the compound’s primary residential buildings ^{[6] [7]}. Those attributions appear in encyclopedic summaries drawing on press reporting rather than in a single, primary construction-contract document available in the cited material ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Other architects, permit filings and local firm connections

Reporting shows additional architects and formal permit activity beyond Tuttle’s involvement: The New York Times reported Epstein “hired an architecture firm owned by that governor’s uncle,” tying island development to local political networks and to specific permit exchanges with Virgin Islands regulators ^[3]. Business Insider and investigative aggregations note that a variety of architects contributed to island designs and that researchers have compiled lists of several architects who worked on parts of Little St. James ^[5]. Great Saint James’s Wikipedia entry references permit applications, site plans and mitigation documents for multiple structures—suggesting an array of design and engineering professionals were involved in planning, even when the public reporting does not always attach single, named contractors to completed buildings ^[4].

3. Construction companies: conspicuous absence of a single builder in public reporting

The publicly available journalism and encyclopedic sources repeatedly name architects or architecture practices but do not consistently identify a single construction company or general contractor responsible for building the island structures; press accounts focus on architects, permits and unusual features rather than listing contractors by name ^{[1] [3] [4]}. News reports about sales and post-Epstein ownership describe extensive renovation and construction on both islands but emphasize Epstein’s expenditures, environmental violations and the structures’ uses rather than documenting which construction firms executed the work ^{[3] [8] [9]}.

4. Limits and alternatives in the record—what reporting shows and what it does not

Available sources make clear that multiple architects and firms were connected to designs and permit filings across Little St. James and Great St. James and that local permit records and journalism document interactions with Virgin Islands regulators ^{[4] [3] [5]}. However, the reporting compiled here does not supply a definitive, single-source construction contract or a complete roster of builders who physically erected every structure on either island; therefore it is not possible, from these sources alone, to assert the identity of a sole construction company responsible for all the buildings ^{[1] [4]}.

5. Reporting context, agendas and why names matter

Journalists have emphasized architects like Ed Tuttle because a named designer ties public aesthetics and professional responsibility to the islands’ high-end, resort-style developments ^{[6] [7]}, while other coverage has probed local political and regulatory relationships—such as the NYT’s note about an architecture firm linked to a governor’s relative—highlighting potential conflicts of interest and environmental compliance issues ^[3]. Investigative compilations (and social-media researchers) have attempted to fill gaps by aggregating architects’ names and permit traces, but those efforts can mix firm-level design credits with on-the-ground contractor work without always distinguishing between who designed plans and who built them ^[5].

Conclusion

The balance of published reporting attributes the renovation of Little St. James’s main residence to Edward (Ed) Tuttle’s architecture practice and documents additional architects and permit activity across both islands, but the sources examined do not present a single, authoritative name for a construction company that built all the island structures; further confirmation would require construction contracts, permit-specific contractor listings or local building records beyond the cited reporting ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}.