FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2009
CONTACT: Molly Dannenmaier
Director of Marketing and Public Relations,
409-765-7834

Tickets Now Available Online for Galveston Historical Foundation’s 35th Annual Historic Homes Tour, a Celebration of Historic Galveston’s Rebirth

Tickets are now available online at www.galvestonhistory.org for the 2009 Galveston Historic Homes Tour: a Celebration of Historic Galveston’s Rebirth. The tour of privately owned homes will take place on the weekends of May 2 and 3 and May 9 and 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 .p.m.

Each of the ten houses on the tour has suffered a calamity to some degree or another. Some are survivors of the Great Storm of 1900, others of the flood waters of Hurricane Ike. Still others have survived fire, collapsing foundations and tornados. Reconstruction is complete on some and ongoing on others.

Advance tickets for the 35th Annual Galveston Historic Homes Tour are $20, or $15 for groups of 20 or more, and for Galveston Historical Foundation (GHF) members. (Member tickets are sold only at GHF headquarters.) Beginning May 2, the first day of the tour, tickets are $25. For more information on ticket sales call 409 765 7834.

Separately ticketed special events will augment this year’s tour, including “First Impression: An Evening Preview” on May 1 and the annual Linen and Lace Mother’s Day Champagne Brunch on May 10. Additional special events will be announced as details are finalized.

This year’s lineup of historic homes includes:

Captain Rufus Jameson House, 1882

1428 Church

GHF restored this two-story Victorian townhouse in 1995 as part of a neighborhood stabilization plan known as Operation Church Street. The first floor received over three feet of flood water from Hurricane Ike in September, 2008.

William Pautsch Cottage, 1886

1905 Avenue M ½

This raised cottage with mansard roof fell off its pier and beam foundation Valentine’s Day, 2005. GHF purchased the house to save it from demolition and sold it to the current owners, who have recently completed rehabilitation.

Alfred G. Youens’ House, 1904

1512 Rosenberg

Mr. Youens, an insurance inspector, survived the collapse of his home at 24th and Avenue P ½ during the 1900 Storm. He built this two-story, two-bedroom Victorian house as a replacement in an architectural style popular before the storm.

Steffens-Drewa House, 1870,
alterations 1907, 1912, 1914

2701 Avenue O

This house is a unique combination of Queen Anne and Arts and Crafts architecture blended with the popular island vernacular form, the Gulf Coast cottage. The main floor of the house escaped serious damage from both the 1900 storm and Hurricane Ike. The house is individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Dr. Cary and Eliza Wilkenson House, 1891

1605 Avenue K

Originally built at 613 19th Street, this house was purchased by GHF and moved it to its current location in March, 2007, to save it from demolition. Featured last year as the “restoration in progress” this house features completed additions and rehabilitation and will be a highlight of this year’s tour.

Christopher Schmidt House, c. 1860
Restoration in Progress

1524 Avenue K

This center-hall cottage burned in February, 2008. GHF purchased the house in March, 2008, and began the rehabilitation process. The house was relocated to its present lot from the corner of 16th and Avenue L after the 1900 Storm. It maintains one of the two original slate mantels.

Henry M. Trueheart’s Tenant Houses, 1893

1821 Winnie
1823 Winnie

These striking high-raised, side-hall houses suffered a major blow when they were twisted from their foundations and blown into one another on Mother’s Day, 2005, by a small tornado. Henry M. Trueheart, an active real estate investor, commissioned these houses as mirrored twins after the massive 1885 fire swept through the neighborhood. Their presence is a rare treat and may be the work of architect Charles Bulger.

John E. Baily House, 1893

1805 Broadway

Architect Henry R. Cooke constructed this house for the Galveston Wharves’ general manager John E. Baily. This elegant Victorian house has stylistic elements reminiscent of the shingle covered houses in New England. Its eight-foot elevation enabled it to escape both the 1900 Storm and Hurricane Ike with only minor damages.

Dorothea Juneman Tenant Cottage, 1892

1709  Ball

This gabled-front cottage features handsome Queen Anne elements meant to increase its presence among the upper income houses of the 1700 block of Ball Avenue. William Pautsch built the tenant house for Dorothea Juneman, widow of George Juneman, a bookkeeper for Gengler’s Grocery.

For more information, log on to www.galvestonhistory.org, or call 409-765-7834.

Purchase tickets online

To access a gallery of press-ready, downloadable photographs, click here.