Archbishop Tells Priests to Leave the Shore House by Saturday – The End of an Era in Ventnor

Here's a hot lead on that beachfront mansion you been looking for in Ventnor.  A beautiful 19 room Tudor home with a gabled roof goes on the market this Saturday.  Contact Archbishop Charles J. Chaput.

Villa St. Joseph, the sprawling... 21,000 foot villa priests from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have used as a retreat and retirement home for nearly 50 years,  goes on the market this Saturday, July 1st.  Word is that the archbishop told priests who intended to spend their golden years in the boardwalk-front home to make other plans.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that entering a  new budget year facing a $17 million budget shortfall and the prospect of additional millions of dollars due in payments on clergy sex abuse cases,  the archdiocese is ready to sell the shore house.

Deeds show the archdiocese paid $100,000 for the house in 1963.  Today, it is one of Ventnor's highest-assessed homes, costing approximately $115,000 a year in property taxes.

I'm a little surprised the Philadelphia Archdiocese has held on to this costly property as long as it has.  How could this expense be justified while, in recent years,  the neighboring catholic schools in Ventnor and Margate were allowed to close because of insufficient funds.

Anyway, back to your real estate shopping.  The Villa at 114 S. Princeton Avenue, assessed at $6.2 million, will probably cost  about $5 million.  Besides the ocean view from your large awning-covered deck, your new home includes  nine bedrooms,  an elevator, a grand staircase, a marble-tiled entrance way,  neatly manicured lawn and landscaping,and a large backyard with a lily pond.    Be it ever so humble...