5 days ago
New owner of Portsmouth events venue once went to school there
Giovanni Donatelli used to walk the halls of Portsmouth Catholic High School as a young boy.
Now, almost four decades later, Donatelli is the new owner of the renovated and renamed building, Cambridge Hall.
An entrepreneur who moved to the U.S. in 1982, Donatelli is the founder and CEO of The Language Group, a Virginia Beach-based translation service company established in 1999.
His company employs 70 fulltime employees and 600 linguists skilled in 225 languages. The Language Group also has a secondary office in Hamburg, Germany.
In early April, Donatelli purchased the building at auction for $660,000. There was also a separate transaction totaling $25,000 to buy the intellectual property rights for the business, including the event hall, website, furniture, artwork and baby grand piano.
William J. 'Billy' Summs Sr., auctioneer with Atlantic Asset Management Group, said Donatelli was the perfect buyer.
The Italianate-style building was transformed into a wedding and event venue in 2022 by Ed O'Neil, an insurance agent with New York Life in Norfolk.
Donatelli plans to reopen it this summer as an event hall to host family and company functions.
An immigrant from the east coast of Italy, he said he identifies as a local boy from Portsmouth and cherishes the building.
'I stood where my locker used to be and you can see where the desks used to sit,' he said. 'I can almost see myself sitting in the classrooms again.'
Armed with ideas, Donatelli said he will continue to operate it as a rental event hall for now — including employee functions for his business — but he is also thinking about using part of the more than 6,000 square feet for nonprofits.
Overjoyed with the amount of care the two most recent owners put into the building following years of neglect, Donatelli, a resident of Virginia Beach, said it's now up to him to be a proper steward of it.
'I would love to have a reunion to celebrate the different classes that graduated from there — back in their own building,' he said. 'And I'd like to make a wall to honor the school with a copy of all the yearbooks.'
Situated at the corner of London and Washington streets in Old Towne Portsmouth since 1892, the structure was originally St. Paul's Academy for Boys, then St. Paul's Catholic High School before it became Portsmouth Catholic High School in 1964.
The Donatelli family's journey to Hampton Roads began in the late 1970s when his father, Otero, a tailor in his native land, was recruited by Morris Rapoport, late patriarch and founder of The Quality Shops.
'They couldn't find anyone in the U.S. so they extended their search and found my father,' Donatelli said.
Rapoport sponsored the family's visas and after 6 years they applied for their citizenship. Donatelli's mother, Grace is known throughout Hampton Roads for her seamstress skills.
Donatelli and his younger brother, Sandro began their schooling at the now defunct Shea Terrace Elementary where he fondly remembers they learned to speak English. His love of languages only grew from that experience.
When Donatelli was in seventh grade, he started his studies at Portsmouth Catholic.
An altar boy in Italy, Donatelli said he continued his faithful service to the church every Sunday, serving mass at St. Paul's Catholic Church adjacent to the school.
'I used to play right there and fly my kite on North Street in the parking lot,' Donatelli said. 'It's my home; even though I'm an immigrant, I really grew up in Portsmouth.'
Portsmouth Catholic shuttered in 1991 and Donatelli graduated from Churchland High School the following year.
'It feels right; the sentimental connection is there, and it's really special that I was able to do this,' he said. 'It's really nice to feel like I can offer something back to the community by buying my old schoolhouse.'
Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836,
