Time Stands Still in a 160-Year-Old Galveston Victorian

Galveston might just be one of the most charming beach towns in the country. Founded in 1838 on an island off Texas’s Gulf Coast, the coastal resort and port city is known for its many historic homes built by its well-to-do forbearers.

Once called the “Wall Street of the South” because of its banking industry, Galveston was (and is) a major commercial center as well as an immigrant destination. Indeed, before the great hurricane of 1900, the most devastating storm ever to hit the United States, Galveston was the country’s second-richest city per capita. Homes built in the 19th century reflect that affluence.

In the sought-after East End Historic District, a well-preserved and updated home from 1859 has come to market at $1.5 million. Behind a wrought-iron fence embellished with hundreds of steel roses and fronted by a covered porch, the butter-yellow home is prominently sited on a double corner lot. Out back is a courtyard filled with fruit trees, a seating area, and a fire pit. There’s also an inviting swimming pool. Prospective buyers will be relieved to know that this property has never flooded.

The main house is a generous 3,670 square feet with several sitting rooms filled with carved Victorian seating, marble-topped side tables, Tiffany-style lamps, fireplaces, ornate wallpaper and nineteenth-century paintings. Hard to believe that the 20th century has arrived, let alone the 21st! Original longleaf pine floors and intricate crown moldings reinforce the Victorian feel.

However, the kitchen is firmly up to date with modern appliances, stone walls and an 11-foot granite island. The kitchen complex also includes a spacious butler’s pantry, a sunroom with a coffered copper tiled ceiling, and a laundry room with space for a wine fridge because who doesn’t need a glass of wine while laundering beach towels and bathing suits?

The primary bedroom is on the main floor with a large closet and plantation shutters, and upstairs are two more bedrooms, a sitting area and a bath. Elsewhere on the property, a huge, wood-paneled game room features an industrial-style wet bar and a powder room, while a separate guest suite includes a full kitchen.

Out back, there’s a covered porch with a fire-pit overlooking the pool, patterned brick walkways, and a potting shed. Along with a two-car detached garage for cars, there’s a third bay for golf carts, used to get to the beach.

The property is available through Thomas Schwenk at Coldwell Banker TGRE.