Galveston Texas
A Magical Island Kingdom
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The Magical Island Kingdom is the quintessential Victorian city!

The Victorian Age was named for the time span when Queen Victoria ruled the British people: 1837-1901. The City of Galveston was incorporated in 1839, hit its zenith in the 1870s, and was devastated by the Great Storm in 1900. Its Golden Age was confined almost precisely to the reign of Queen Victoria!

There was a monumental recovery effort in the years after 1900, but when the Houston Ship Channel opened in 1914, the Port of Galveston would never again become the economic engine that had propelled Galveston to its glory, during the Victorian Age. After a long decline, that bottomed in the 1960s and 1970s, Galveston struggled to rise from the ashes, and with its large inventory of 19th-Century buildings, re-invent itself as a Victorian refuge from the madness of 20th-Century life.

The City of Galveston was laid out with 14 long, narrow lots to each block, so long, narrow multi-storied houses worked nicely to produce a densely-packed urban environment that created a small Victorian city rather than a small rural town. Most of the picturesque, colorful, and lavish Victorian architectural styles were perfect for this vibrant new city.

After the 1900 Storm, many of the houses were re-built using Victorian 
architectural styles, but as time wore on; the new, plainer, and more horizontal 20th-Century styles began to be used in newer neighborhoods, and also as infill in the older ones. Unfortunately, they usually did not fit well among the more stately Victorian designs.

Galveston builders and architects rarely designed a house or commercial building so that it strictly conformed to the rules and guidelines of any one, of the many Victorian architectural styles, choosing instead to combine the elements of several styles, or to build rather plain and simple designs, from a plan book, and then merely enhance their look with Victorian decoration.

This has lead some writers to classify Galveston architecture primarily by type, defined by the floor plan and shape, or to combine many styles together. For example, Howard Barnstone (
The Galveston That Was), sees Greek Revival as the dominant style in 19th-Century Galveston, so he considers the later Victorian styles together as "Romantic".

This has also lead to the convention of classifying hundreds of houses, that have some underlying Greek Revival influence, but are otherwise difficult to classify by architectural style, as "Galveston Vernacular"; meaning a building style that became common in the local area. Perhaps a better classification for many of these houses, without a dominant Greek Revival look, is Folk Victorian; which is the name given to the style of simple square or rectangular houses which have been decorated with Victorian architectural add-ons that suggest the fancier styles of those times. 

As the years have passed, since the 19th Century, a great deal of the architectural decoration has been lost on the houses and commercial buildings in Galveston, due to decay, and damage from storms, so it is often difficult to tell what some of these houses used to look like in their full finery! 

In the end, Architecture is a fundamental expression of the individual and collective lifestyle of a culture. As the economy and technology dictate how people can afford to live, and as people modify the way they choose to live, the architectural styles change to reflect these adjustments. As the architecture is transformed, it, in turn, influences the culture.

The people who lived here during Galveston’s Golden Age, lived less comfortable, but more authentic lives than our modern society offers, which was reflected in the houses and buildings that they designed to live and work in. This architecture, that is their legacy, is the primary reason why "The Magical Island Kingdom" is more “Real”, i.e. more authentic, than many other places, in this country.

The designers and builders of these buildings had an instinctive understanding that well-chosen designs and solid hand-crafted construction would create functional spaces
that would enhance their  environment. These structures were built to nurture the identity, uplift the spirits, and create greater harmony in the lives of those who lived and worked in them.

The Victorian and early-20th-Century architecture of Galveston stands in stark contrast to the suburban sprawl of Post-WWII America, with its monotonous track homes and McMansions, its tiresome shopping centers and strip malls, and its slavish dependence on the car to make the lifestyle work. This  architecture is often foreign and incomprehensible to those who have only known eight-foot-high ceilings, sheet rock, and glue-and-sawdust walls.
 
Those who encounter the architecture of this bygone era either reject it for what they consider the more comfortable suburban lifestyle, with its tedious and repetitive building styles, or embrace the chance at the life that they can live in such a place, because they know that, in some mysterious way, these buildings will change them!


Most of the pictures, of the houses and commercial buildings, shown below, were taken in Galveston, and are shown with their address noted.


19th-Century
Victorian Architectural Styles



Federal 1780-1850

Federal - Architectural Style

The Federal style was conceived by the Adams brothers in England. Their design added delicate details to the earlier and simpler Georgian style. Americans modified their work by using curved, circular, elliptical, and Palladian windows, recessed wall arches, and oval-shaped rooms. This new style was an expression of the identity of the new United States.

Like the Georgian style, the Federal style is g
enerally symmetrical, and boxy with simple symmetrical facades, and shutters. The major differences are that the Federal style is more decorative, and incorporates curves. It was the most popular style in the US from about 1780 to 1830.

Federal - Architectural Style

Federal houses usually have many of these features:
  • Center entrances on the front and rear
  • Semicircular or elliptical fanlights over the front doors
  • Narrow sidelights (windows) flanking the front doors
  • Decorative crown or roof over the front doors
  • Double hung, evenly spaced, multi-paned windows; arranged symmetrically around the center doorway
  • Shutters accenting the windows
  • Palladian, circular, or elliptical windows
  • End chimneys
  • Eaves were emphasized with decorative moldings, usually including tooth-like dentils, or brick corbeling
  • Low-pitched or even flat roofs with a balustrade
  • Decorative swags and garlands
  • Oval rooms and arches



Greek Revival (aka Classical Revival) 1818-1860

Greek Revival - Architectural Style
1605 33rd Street
The Michael Menard House

The nearly full replication of classical Greek and Roman buildings first began in the late 18th century, when Thomas Jefferson used the design of a French building as his model for the Virginia State Capitol. As the name implies, this style is associated with the Greek republic, and was a fitting
choice to represent the new American republic.

Greek Revival is most distinguishable by its large Doric, Ionic or Tuscan columns
The front elevation is typically enhanced with a white portico (porch), and the building may be constructed using white stucco, board siding, or red brick.

Greek Revival declined in popularity as the country became more urban, because it was better suited for public buildings, and houses on large country properties rather than homes in cities, with much smaller lots.
 
Greek Revival houses usually have many of these features:

  • Large columns
  • Symmetrical shape
  • Smooth exterior wall surfaces; can be white stucco, board siding or red brick
  • Entry porch (portico) supported by columns
  • Heavy cornices
  • Wide, plain friezes
  • Bold, simple moldings
Greek Revival - Architectural Style
1405 24th Street

Some Greek Revival houses also have these features:
  • Full-width pedimented gable
Greek Revival - Architectural Style - Pediment
  • Decorative pilasters
  • Narrow windows (sidelights) around the front doors


Gothic Revival 1820-1870

Gothic Revival - Architectural Style

The first Gothic Revival homes were mansions made of stone and brick which imitated the great Gothic Cathedrals of medieval Europe. Architect Alexander Jackson Davis published a book that inspired many people to build homes in this style, however, few  could afford to build massive stone houses in the Gothic Revival style.

For this reason, the original concept spawned a movement to build smaller, less expensive Gothic Revival houses out of wood.
Built to look like picturesque cottages, their most distinctive feature is the pointed arch form, but most also include
scrolled ornaments, lacy bargeboards, and other types of and "gingerbread".

Gothic Revival - Architectural Style

Wooden homes in the Gothic Revival style usually have many of these features:

  • Doors and windows with pointed Gothic arches
  • Tall, narrow windows
  • Bay and oriel windows
  • Steeply pitched roofs with cross gables
  • Vertical board siding and batten trim
  • Verandas (one-story porches)
  • Freely laid out, asymmetrical floor plans
  • Elaborately cut decorative bargeboard/vergeboard trim under the eaves
Stone and brick homes in the Gothic Revival style usually have many of these features:
  • Steeply pitched roofs
  • Pointed windows with decorative tracery
  • Grouped chimneys
  • Pinnacles
  • Battlements and shaped parapets
  • Leaded glass
  • Quatrefoil and clover shaped windows
  • Oriel windows
  • Asymmetrical floor plans
  • Verandas


Italianate 1840-1885

Italianate - Architectural Style

The Italianate style had its beginnings in England when builders started to design recreations of Italian Renaissance villas. When the style was adapted to America, it became the most popular building form in the country by the late 1860s, because of its advantages. Italianate homes could be built on a modest budget, by using many different materials. New mass production techniques made it possible to easily and affordably produce the cast-iron, and press-metal decorations needed.

The Italianate style is characterized by a symmetrical, severely blockish form, with a low pitched (even flat) roof, with widely overhanging, projecting eaves supported by large brackets, which makes the roof form recede, to give more prominence to the walls.
This style fits better than many on densely-packed city lots, so it became very popular for downtown commercial buildings.

Italianate - Architectural Style

Italianate houses usually have many of these features:
  • Low-pitched or flat roofs
  • Wide, overhanging eaves with brackets and large cornices
  • Visually balanced facades
  • Symmetrical rectangular or square shapes
  • Tall appearance; with 2, 3, or 4 stories
  • Square cupolas or towers
  • Porches topped with balustraded balconies
  • Tall, narrow, double-paned, double hung windows
  • Side bay windows
  • Heavily molded double doors
  • Roman or segmented arches above windows and doors
  • Decorative bracketed hoods or lintels over windows and doors




Second Empire 1860-1885

Second Empire - Architectural Style
1301 Broadway

This style was modeled after the the opulent architecture of Paris during the reign of Napoleon III, but it was also practical because the height allowed by the Mansard roof provided additional living space on small city lots. This roof
makes better use of the top floor, and fits better with the scale of lower buildings, when used on 3-4 story houses. Second Empire is basically an Italianate design topped with a double-pitched Mansard roofBoth Italianate, and Second Empire houses tend to be square in shape, and have U-shaped window crowns, decorative brackets, and single story porches.

Second Empire - Architectural Style
1101 23rd Street

Second Empire homes usually have many of these features:
  • Mansard roofs; often using multi-colored slate shingles
  • Brackets beneath the eaves, balconies, and bay windows
  • Dormer windows; projecting from the roof 
  • Pedimented and bracketed slender windows
  • Rounded cornices at top and base of the roof
  • Arched double doors
  • 2-4 stories
  • Projecting porches

Some Second Empire homes also have these features:
  • Cupolas
  • Wrought iron cresting above upper cornices
  • Classical pediments
  • Paired columns
  • Tall windows on the first story




Eastlake 1860-1880

Eastlake - Architectural Style
1417 24th Street

Any architectural style, during the Victorian Era, that was decorated with the fancy spindles, buttons and knobs designed by Charles Eastlake, could be said to have an Eastlake influence. This decorative style of ornamentation was primarily found on houses built in the Queen Anne and Stick styles.

Eastlake - Architectural Style

Eastlake - Architectural Style
3202 Avenue P 1/2




Stick 1860-1890

Stick - Architectural Style

Stick style houses do not use ornamentation, but rather use the patterns, and lines created by half-
timbering. Because the decorative details are flat, they are often covered over when homeowners later remodel. The Stick style was short lived because it couldn't compete with the fancier Queen Annes. Since few were built, and many of those have been lost, or covered over,
very few authentic Stick style homes remain intact.

Stick - Architectural Style

Stick style homes usually have many of these features:

  • Decorative half-timbering that interrupts the surface of the building
  • Decorative trusses, braces and brackets
  • Rectangular shapes
  • Wood siding/wall cladding
  • Steep, gabled roofs; usually with cross gables that show decorative trusses at the apex
  • Overhanging eaves with exposed rafter ends
  • Ornamental trusses (gable braces)
  • One-story porches with diagonal or curved braces




Folk Victorian 1870-1910

Folk Victorian - Architectural Style

Mass production and modern shipping methods meant that nearly every location in the country had access to decorative architectural add-on features. With all the gingerbread and spindles available, some Folk Victorian houses suggest Gothic Revival or Queen Anne, but they are simple square, or rectangular designs that have extras nailed on to them, rather than the more irregular shapes of these fancier styles.

Folk Victorian - Architectural Style

Folk Victorian houses usually have many of these features:

  • Square, symmetrical shapes
  • Brackets under the eaves
  • Porches with spindle work or flat, jigsaw cut trim
Some Folk Victorian homes also have these features:
  • Carpenter Gothic details
  • Low-pitched, pyramid shaped roofs
  • Front gables and side wings




Shingle 1874-1910

Shingle - Architectural Style
2402 Avenue P

This style attempted to break away from the more lavish Victorian styles with a more relaxed, rustic, and informal look. Covering most, or all, of a building with shingles, stained with a single color, created a uniform, undecorated surface. This style represented a simplicity of form. Shingle style homes can take on many forms, and borrow from the other styles of the day.

Shingle - Architectural Style

Shingle Style homes usually have many of these features:

  • Continuous wood shingles on the siding and roof
  • Irregular roof lines
  • Cross gables
  • Eaves on several levels
  • Porches
  • Asymmetrical, rambling floor plans
Some Shingle Style homes have these features: