Contents
- What the Epstein island map shows: the documented structures
- Little St. James map: eleven points, real and in the game
- The Epstein island temple: permit, dome, statues and what remains unproven
- Main residence, guest cabanas and pools
- Helipad, dock, water and power: how the island was supplied
- Great St. James: the second island, the permits and the stop-work order
- Real island versus the game's rebuild
- The buildings in numbers
- The island in the game: a rebuild, marked as one
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources and references
Key facts
- The March 2022 sales listing described Little St. James as improved with a main compound, four guest villas, a helipad, a private dock, two pools, a gym, a tiki hut, a gas station and high-capacity water filtration 2,3.
- The blue-and-white striped building known as the temple was permitted in 2010 as a music pavilion of 3,500 sq ft with a grand piano; the finished cube differs from the drawings, and NBC News found no evidence that DPNR inspected or approved it as built 1.
- Its gold dome was gone by 2019; AP attributed the loss to the 2017 hurricane season, while other reports differ on whether Irma, Maria or a removal before the storm took it 4,1.
- No official finding of tunnels under the temple or the island has been published, and NBC News reported in March 2026 that it has not been confirmed any tunnels were built 5.
- On Great St. James, bought in January 2016, DPNR found roads and a helipad built without permits, settled for US$70,000 in 2016 and issued a stop-work order on 21 December 2018 that was still in effect in mid-2019 6,7,8.
- As of 2026 the buildings stand largely as they did in 2019, the temple has been painted over and boarded up, and the only permit sought by the new owner is for an 8,800 sq ft warehouse 9,5,10.
What the Epstein island map shows: the documented structures
Little St. James is a private island off the East End of St. Thomas, and even its area is reported with a spread: 71.5 acres in DPNR and court files reviewed by the Virgin Islands Daily News, 71.6 acres in the 2022 listing, 70 to 75 acres in national coverage 6,3,4. Location, ownership and the question of visiting are covered in the island article; this one is about what stands on it.
Knowledge about the buildings comes from four kinds of sources. DPNR permit records, reviewed by NBC News in 2019, give sizes and dates for the main house, the 2007 expansion plan, the 2009 pool pavilion and the 2010 music pavilion 1,11. The 2022 sales listing inventoried the improvements 2,3. Government images taken in 2020 and released by House Oversight Committee Democrats in December 2025 show building exteriors, the pool area, the helipad, the dock and the striped building 12,13. Satellite comparisons and footage from boats and drones fill in the rest 9,14.
None of these sources amounts to an official plan of the island. The Justice Department's 2026 data sets reportedly include island blueprints and drone footage, but nothing used here reproduces a full survey, so the count below rests on permit records, the listing and released images 15.
Positions are documented only in part. The striped building stands on a lookout point at what NBC News calls the southeastern edge of the island, while some secondary sources say the southwestern point 1. Two large white-and-yellow cockatoo statues line the path from the dock to the house 16,17. Tennis courts, several pools, the helipad and the guest villas are visible on 2023 satellite imagery described by Newsweek 14. For everything else the map below uses the game's rebuild and says so.
Little St. James map: eleven points, real and in the game
The map is the island as rebuilt in the game, not an aerial photograph. Each point pairs what the record documents about the real structure with what the rebuild shows there; the game's building names are invented.

A stone mansion with cream-colored walls and a bright turquoise roof, as AP described it in July 2019 4. Permit records give the original house as 8,124 sq ft with a 16,747 sq ft addition proposed in 2007; reports on the August 2019 FBI search described a 24,000 sq ft residence with two pools and a spa 11,18.
Villa Koralle, the largest walk-in house in the rebuild, with the main pool and a pergola beside it.
The November 2007 proposal described three wings: a spa to the north, an expansive living room connected to a below-ground theater to the west, and a kitchen, dining area and two guest rooms to the south. Which wings were built is not documented 11.
Villa Westflügel, an annex joined to the villa by a short covered passage.
The 2022 listing counted four guest villas 2,3; the 2010 permit filing for the music pavilion also included a 2,000 sq ft cabana and a 3,000 sq ft spa 1. How the four are arranged is not documented.
Four huts in a row east of the villa, named Mango, Muschel, Palme and Sonne; the names are the game's.
Permitted in 2010 as a music pavilion; built as a white cube with broad blue stripes on a two-tier terrace, with a gold dome until 2017 and gold-painted statues at the front 1,4. Painted over and boarded up by early 2026 5.
Blauer Pavillon, a striped block on a stepped terrace on the southwestern side of the map, one of the walk-in buildings.
Epstein routinely flew by helicopter from the St. Thomas airport to the island's helipad 4,16; the videos released in December 2025 include a walk-through of the helipad and the coastline 19.
Helipad with a lawn apron, a waiting house and a luggage hall; the two small buildings are the game's addition.
A private dock; Fox News documented a covered boat dock and stone pathways in 2019 2,20. A vessel marked 'LSJ' ferried staff and supplies from St. Thomas 21,22, and the cockatoo statues stand along the path from here to the house 16,17.
Hafenhaus, an open harbor building on the north shore of the map.
The island has its own reverse-osmosis desalination plant, and around 2005 Epstein paid the Water and Power Authority for a submarine electric and fiber-optic cable from Cabrita Point that replaced generator power 16; the listing adds high-capacity water filtration and a gas station 2,3.
Water tanks, a reverse-osmosis unit, a generator house and a fuel point, grouped north of the station.
The listing counts a tiki hut and three private beaches among the improvements; St. Thomas Source noted that all USVI beaches are public up to the high-water mark, so 'private' is a sales claim, not a legal status 3,2.
Westpavillon, an open pavilion on the west shore next to the west pool and the Lagunenhaus.
The map comes from the game; the positions follow the reconstruction, not a survey.
The Epstein island temple: permit, dome, statues and what remains unproven
The building people mean when they search for the Epstein island temple stands on a lookout point at the island's edge, southeastern according to NBC News, southwestern according to some secondary sources 1. It was permitted in 2010 as a music pavilion: the DPNR application drawings show an octagonal 3,500 sq ft pavilion housing a grand piano, with 1,800 sq ft permitted for the music room, filed together with a pool, a 2,000 sq ft cabana and a 3,000 sq ft spa 1. Workers told AP it was a music room with a grand piano and acoustic walls 4.
What went up differs from the drawings. Instead of an octagon with a 10-foot facade, a stone exterior and several front windows, the finished building is a rectangular cube with no windows or stone on its front that appears to rise at least 30 feet; a DPNR official noted the difference in shape, NBC found no evidence that DPNR inspected or approved the structure as built, and the records show no further permit requests for Little St. James after 2011 1. In March 2011 the CZM director, Jean-Pierre Oriol, had written to Epstein's lawyer that he was 'very concerned that major development is occurring on Little St. James Island through the processing of a series of minor' permit applications 1.
In appearance it is a white cube with broad blue horizontal stripes on a two-tier stone terrace painted with pink and red geometric shapes, at a high point of the island. Until 2017 it carried a large gold dome, and a 2015 aerial video shows gold-painted statues at its front, one resembling a trident-wielding Poseidon and two resembling birds 4,24. Whether the remaining statues were later removed is not documented.
The dome was gone by 2019 and was not replaced. Reports differ on why: AP wrote that it flew off during the 2017 hurricane season, NBC quoted locals who said Hurricane Maria blew it away on 20 September 2017, Fox News said it was damaged in a hurricane, and a tabloid report cited by others claims staff removed it ahead of the storm 4,1,20. Where it went is unknown.
The interior became visible only through the Justice Department's December 2025 release. The photographs show an unfinished room: a ceiling painted as a cloudy sky with animals, constellations, mythical creatures and seafaring imagery, an empty ornately carved floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, exposed cement-board panels, a plywood-covered opening and two shrink-wrapped twin mattresses near a large double window 25. When the photographs were taken is not stated.
Claims and documentation diverge most on what lies beneath. Underground-room and tunnel claims arose from 2019 drone videos and the building's odd design; NBC News and Newsweek describe them as conspiracy theories, and NBC reported in March 2026 that it has not been confirmed any tunnels were built 5,14. Documented below-ground plans exist only elsewhere: the 2007 proposal's below-ground theater under the west wing of the main house 11 and the 'underwater office & pool' in the 2017 application for Great St. James 26. Documented is a permit for a music room; not documented is anything under it.
After the 2023 sale the building changed on the surface. Videos filmed by trespassers in early 2026 and reviewed by NBC News show it painted over and boarded up, with white gargoyle statues scattered around the island; permit records still identify it as a music pavilion, and its actual final use remains undocumented 5. Who ordered the repainting, and when, has not been confirmed by a major outlet.
Main residence, guest cabanas and pools
AP described the main house in July 2019 as a stone mansion with cream-colored walls and a bright turquoise roof, surrounded by maids' quarters and other structures 4. A contractor who worked on the island for six years told the Virgin Islands Daily News of Danish-style architecture with separate buildings for the master bedroom, the kitchen, the living room and the office 16.
Its size is reported inconsistently. DPNR permit records reviewed by NBC News give the original house as 8,124 sq ft; in November 2007 Epstein proposed a 16,747 sq ft addition in three wings, with a new pool replacing the demolished north terrace, and whether the full permit was granted is unclear from the records 11. NBC's reports on the August 2019 FBI search describe a 24,000 sq ft residence with two pools and a spa, which fits the sum of the two figures; NBC also printed a total of 46,697 sq ft that does not 18,1.
The pools are better documented than the rooms. In 2005 a pool contractor flown in from West Palm Beach installed an infinity pool off the master bedroom 16, and the 2022 listing counted two pools on the island 3. In December 2009 Epstein applied for a 2,400 sq ft wood sun deck with coral-stone paving, a stone patio, a 10,400 sq ft pool pavilion, a 1,320 sq ft stone ATV garage and a tennis court 11.
The guest accommodation appears in the listing as four guest villas, alongside a gym, a cinema in Fortune's summary and a lagoon with flamingos 2,27. The government images released in December 2025 show multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, kitchens, and a library or office with a large desk and a blackboard, all photographed in 2020 and without people 13,28.
On condition: a Telegraph comparison of satellite imagery from 2019 to 2025 found the mansion, pools, guest villas and helipad unchanged, one small structure erected on the beach, another extending toward the dock, and a freshwater reservoir refilled after nearly drying out 9. Storm damage to the main house itself is not documented in the sources used here; the documented storm loss is the dome of the striped building 4.
Helipad, dock, water and power: how the island was supplied
Little St. James has no runway. Epstein's jets landed at Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas, passengers were flown from there by helicopter to the island's helipad, and a vessel marked 'LSJ' ferried staff and supplies across from St. Thomas 21,22,29. FAA records in the Justice Department files show a Bell 430 helicopter bought for his aviation company Hyperion Air for US$1.58 million on 6 March 2012; the USVI Attorney General's 2020 complaint alleged that Hyperion Air helicopters flew people between St. Thomas and the island, and CBS News reported in 2025 that two helicopters were operated from it 30,19.
Power first came from generators that cost tens of thousands of dollars a month in fuel. Around 2005 Epstein paid the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority to lay a hybrid electric and fiber-optic submarine cable between the island and Cabrita Point on the East End of St. Thomas, and paid for additional fiber on St. Thomas because the telecom provider had none past Cowpet Bay; fresh water comes from the island's own reverse-osmosis plant 16.
Heavy goods moved by barge. A 70-foot transport barge linked to Epstein, moored at Crown Bay Marina under a dockage agreement dated 3 September 2017, was blamed for heavy damage to the marina when Hurricane Irma hit on 6 September 2017; the marina sued for US$160,473 in repairs plus more than US$70,000 in temporary repairs, alleging the barge was inadequately secured 31. Irma crossed the northern Virgin Islands as a Category 5 storm, and Maria followed on 20 September 2017 32,33.
On the ground, Fox News documented a covered boat dock and stone pathways in 2019 20, AP described an island ringed with tall palms and two large U.S. flags at either end after native vegetation had been cleared 17,16, and the FBI search party of 12 August 2019 arrived by boat and helicopter and fanned out in golf carts 34,18. The one documented building project since the sale is modest: in December 2025 the new owner applied for a CZM major permit to rebuild an existing metal-framed warehouse as an 8,800 sq ft concrete warehouse with a cistern under its floor, and on 5 February 2026 the CZM director, Marlon Hibbert, said the application was incomplete because no environmental assessment had been submitted 10,35.
Great St. James: the second island, the permits and the stop-work order
Great St. James, the larger neighbor reported at about 160 to 165 acres 2,26, was bought in January 2016 through the entity Great St. Jim LLC for US$22.5 million: three parcels of 80.1 acres for US$17.5 million on 18 January and twelve parcels of 81.22 acres for US$5 million on 21 January 6,36. The sequence of the permit dispute that followed also appears in the timeline; here it is told by building.
Construction began before permits. After complaints in April 2016 a DPNR inspector found newly cut roads, a helipad at the north end and an excavation believed to be a building site, all without Coastal Zone Management permits. DPNR issued a cease-and-desist and reached a settlement citing US$280,000 in fines, among them US$210,000 for cutting 21 or more new roads and US$40,000 for clearing the helipad area, reduced to US$70,000 with no admission of wrongdoing on condition of no further unpermitted work; Epstein signed on 22 July 2016 and the US$70,000 was paid on 5 August 2016 6,37.
The settlement did not hold. After an inspection in late October 2016 DPNR issued a new cease-and-desist, an internal memo of 31 October demanded complete removal of the helipad, and as of 22 November a concrete and rock driveway and a beach-bar cabana had not been removed while the driveway had been expanded further; on 15 December 2016 Epstein was ordered to pay the remaining US$210,000 6,38. In June 2017 a supplemental agreement replaced that payment with a US$160,000 environmental project, the Raveling Wall at Fort Christian 6.
On 10 January 2017 Epstein signed an application for a CZM major permit as president of Poplar, Inc., sole member of Great St. Jim LLC. The site plans show a complex across the island linked by a private road: a barge dock, two homes, cottages, an amphitheater, gardens, a marine electrical cable, a solar array and generator, storage, security and workshop buildings and an 'underwater office & pool', with mitigation for endangered corals and the Virgin Islands tree boa and continued public access to the shoreline including Christmas Cove 26,7.
Coastal Zone Management issued a stop-work order on 21 December 2018 because the permitted plans were not followed. In May 2019 the DPNR commissioner said work had continued regardless, including an excessive amount of additional roadways, two jetties and fill placed into submerged lands, that the maximum penalty is US$10,000 per day and that Epstein could theoretically face more than US$1 million in fines, the third time in as many years that plans had been exceeded 7,26. In July 2019 DPNR confirmed the order remained in effect, that only one small permit, for a flagpole and cistern repair, had been approved, and that erosion from road cutting was the main environmental issue 8. A joint EPA and DPNR inspection on 19 October 2019 found evidence of development without a permit; the EPA's inspector general later found no evidence of corruption at DPNR and referred the non-compliance findings back to the territory 39.
Text messages from 2019, reviewed by CNN and published on 25 February 2026, show Governor Albert Bryan Jr. telling Epstein he had asked the territory's top environmental official to pause enforcement of the stop-work order; questioned under oath in 2023 he denied special treatment, and in March 2026 he said he supports an inquiry and denies wrongdoing 40,41.
At Epstein's death in August 2019 no compound had been completed. Roads, a helipad, jetties, a driveway and a beach-bar cabana had been built, and the 2022 listing called the island less developed than Little St. James and suitable for subdivision 17,3,2. The USVI Attorney General's office found that historical structures of enslaved workers had been razed for the development, and the December 2022 settlement includes US$450,000 for environmental remediation there 42,22. Which of the roads, the helipad and the jetties still exist is not documented; charter operators saw no construction on either island in 2025 9.
Real island versus the game's rebuild
| Feature | The real island | In the game |
|---|---|---|
| Area | Reported between 70 and 78 acres; the most precise figures are 71.5 acres from DPNR and court files and 71.6 acres from the listing 6,3. | A rebuild from public imagery with no acreage claim; version 0.12.0 places 63 building bodies on the island. |
| Number of buildings | No official count; the listing names a main compound, four guest villas, a helipad, a dock, two pools, a gym, a tiki hut, a gas station and maintenance and viewing structures 2,3. | Fifteen named houses among the 63 bodies, from Villa Koralle to the Westpavillon. |
| Temple | White cube with blue stripes on a two-tier terrace, gold dome until 2017, statues; painted over and boarded up by 2026 4,5. | Blauer Pavillon on a stepped terrace; walk-in, its interior is game design, not a reconstruction. |
| Main residence | Stone mansion, cream walls, turquoise roof; 8,124 sq ft original, 16,747 sq ft addition proposed 2007 4,11. | Villa Koralle with a west wing and the main pool; the name is invented. |
| Helipad | Yes; helicopter link to the St. Thomas airport 4,16. | Helipad with a lawn apron, waiting house and luggage hall. |
| Dock | Private dock, covered boat dock, stone pathways; supply vessel 'LSJ' 20,21. | Hafenhaus on the north shore. |
| Vegetation | Native vegetation cleared, ring of tall palms, two U.S. flags at either end 16,17. | Lawns and a west flagpole as scenery; no botanical claim. |
| Invented in the game | No public floor plan; tunnels not confirmed 5. | All building names, all interiors, the Ausguck mast, the Hangkammern E-2 on the eastern slope, the story and the characters. |
The buildings in numbers
- Permit year of the music pavilion, the striped building
- 20101
- Gold dome gone, reported lost in the 2017 hurricane season
- By 20194
- Guest villas in the 2022 listing
- 42
- Original main house per DPNR permit records
- 8,124 sq ft11
- Great St. James per the 2022 listing
- 161.3 acres2
- Paid on 5 August 2016 to settle unpermitted work on Great St. James
- US$70,0006
In the game
The island in the game: a rebuild, marked as one
The map you walk in the game is a rebuild from public imagery, not a survey. Version 0.12.0 places 63 building bodies on the island, fifteen of them named houses: Villa Koralle with its Westflügel, the four huts Mango, Muschel, Palme and Sonne, the Blauer Pavillon on its terrace, the Hafenhaus at the shore, the Inselstation, the Nordhaus, the Strandhaus and the Westpavillon. Helipad, dock, water tanks, reverse-osmosis unit and generator house are there because the record documents such facilities; where exactly they stood on the real island is not published, so their placement is the game's.
Deliberately invented: every building name, every interior, the Ausguck mast, the Hangkammern E-2 on the eastern slope, the story and the characters. Nothing in the game reconstructs events. If you want to see how the rebuild handles the striped building, you can climb its terrace in the browser or desktop version, alone or in co-op with up to ten players, and hold it against the record above.
Frequently asked questions
What is the temple on Epstein Island?
A blue-and-white striped cube permitted in 2010 as a music pavilion with a grand piano; it stands on a lookout point at the island's edge and carried a gold dome until 2017 1,4.
Are there tunnels under the Epstein island temple?
No official finding of tunnels has been published. NBC News reported in March 2026 that it has not been confirmed any tunnels were built; the only documented below-ground plan is the 2007 proposal's theater under the main house's west wing 5,11.
What does the Epstein island temple look like inside?
Photographs in the Justice Department's December 2025 release show an unfinished room with a ceiling painted as a cloudy sky, an empty carved bookshelf, exposed cement board and two shrink-wrapped mattresses 25.
How many buildings are on Epstein Island?
There is no official count. The 2022 listing named a main compound, four guest villas, a helipad, a private dock, two pools, a gym, a tiki hut, a gas station and maintenance and viewing structures 2,3.
Where is the temple on the Little St. James map?
On a lookout point at the edge of the island, southeastern according to NBC News, while some secondary sources say the southwestern point 1.
Sources and references
The numbers in the text point to this list. All sources were accessed on the article's update date.
- Jeffrey Epstein's bizarre blue-striped building on private island raised alarm
- Jeffrey Epstein's Caribbean islands list for $125 million
- Jeffrey Epstein's St. James Islands Listed For Sale
- Jeffrey Epstein's Caribbean island mystery (AP)
- Influencers flock to Epstein's former island to film viral videos
- DPNR files include checks Historical Trust never received
- Construction appears to continue on Great St. James
- DPNR planning visit to Epstein's island
- Epstein island's grand re-opening delayed
- Still no resort plans for Epstein's islands purchased by Deckoff
- Jeffrey Epstein, while hashing out lenient Florida deal, moved to expand island compound
- Ranking Member Robert Garcia Statement on Production of Photos and Videos from Epstein's Island
- Never-before-seen images of Epstein's private island released
- Images Show What Jeffrey Epstein's Island Looks Like Now
- Massive trove of Epstein files released by DOJ, including 3 million documents and photos
- Contractor recalls 6 years on Epstein's island
- Epstein's Caribbean islands drawing tourists after his death (AP)
- FBI agents swarm Jeffrey Epstein's private Caribbean island
- Where is Jeffrey Epstein's island — and what reportedly happened on Little St. James?
- Epstein's islands: Little St. James and Great St. James
- Jeffrey Epstein's island: Residents share rumors surrounding Little Saint James
- Financier buys Jeffrey Epstein's private islands, with plans to create a resort
- Owner of Little St. James island sues suspected trespassers
- Why did Jeffrey Epstein build a temple on his private island?
- Latest Epstein files dump shows creepy photos of 'temple' (NY Post)
- Epstein building compound on Great St. James (VI Daily News, 7 May 2019, preserved as HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031209-031211)
- Jeffrey Epstein Virgin Islands purchased Stephen Deckoff luxury resort
- Lawmakers obtain Epstein banking records, release photos of his private island compound
- Here's what is known about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's islands in the Caribbean
- Epstein bought Irish firm's helicopter, new Andrew images
- Epstein's barge sued for damages during Irma
- National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Irma (AL112017)
- National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Maria (AL152017)
- FBI raids Jeffrey Epstein's private island in the Caribbean
- Who Owns Epstein Island Now? Update on Billionaire Plan to Build New Resort
- For Jeffrey Epstein, One Island Hideaway Wasn't Enough. How He Stealthily Acquired A Second
- Government Exhibit 1, In the Matter of the Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. ST-21-RV-00005 (V.I. Super. Ct.)
- DPNR Orders Cease and Desist for Unauthorized Development on Great St. James
- Why agency's watchdog investigated Jeffrey Epstein
- Months before Epstein's arrest, Virgin Islands governor offered him help in island dispute, texts show
- Bryan 'Absolutely' Supports an Epstein Inquiry, Denies Wrongdoing
- U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Settles Sex Trafficking Case Against Estate of Jeffrey Epstein and Co-Defendants for Over $105 Million