Although White was a Civil Engineer employed by the Public Works Department, he was so enamoured with Sikkim that he accepted the post of Political Officer unhesitatingly.

In my jungle wanderings around Gangtok, I came across a charming site in the midst of primeval forest which seemed suitable in every way, so I determined to build on it, felling only the trees which might possible endanger the safety of the house, a necessary precaution, as many of them were quite 140 feet high, and in the spring the thunderstorms, accompanied by violent winds, were something terrible and wrought havoc everywhere.

Behind rose a high mountain, thickly wooded, which protected us from the storms sweeping down from the snows to the north-east, and in front the ground fell away with a magnificent view across the valley, where, from behind the opposite hills, Kanchenjunga and its surroundings snows towered up against the clear sky, making one of the most beautiful and magnificent sights to be imagined, and one certainly not to be surpassed, if equaled, anywhere in the world."

After White, all the incumbents of the post of Political Officer Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet based in Gangtok enjoyed the comforts of the English villa-like Residency he had built.

A span of 86 years between 1889 and 1975 (Claude White to Gurbachan Singh) lay between the first Political Officer's appointment and the withdrawal of the last.

This really fired the imagination of the local Sikkimese Kazis who also incorporated bay windows and copied the round table for their own residences.

Sited well above the town and insulated from the noise and fumes of the bazaar, the classic gabled structure lends into the greenery and trees of the landscape and looks on the entire Kanchendzonga range.

Gavai, V. Rama Rao, Sudarshan Agarwal) have held the post of Governor of Sikkim and resided at the Raj Bhavan.

White's Residency has stood a silent spectator for over a hundred years as the winds of change blew over Sikkim's political landscape.