Bishop's Palace. Gresham's Castle. No matter what you call it, this is a very cool house. Located in Galveston, at 1402 Broadway, I first saw this house way back in the '80's. I went down there for Spring Break while I was in college and I took a city tour (Yes, I was a nerd even then!) and one of the points of interest was this house. I didn't go in at the time but I was intrigued.
I found this lovely photo on the internet. It's hard to get a photo like this when you're standing next to it.
This is what you get when you're standing in front of it. Still gorgeous but not the best perspective. The house was built in 1892 for Walter Gresham and his family. The house has 4 floors and approximately 19000 SF! That's good because Mr. Gresham had nine kids. Walter Gresham was an attorney from Virginia who moved to Galveston after fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War. In 1868, he married Josephine Mann and they had 9 children: Edward, Esther, Walter, William, Josephine, T. Dew, Frank, Beulah and Philip. Gresham served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1886 - 1891. The family was living in the house during the Great Storm of 1900. Everyone survived. It wasn't just the family that took refuge here during the storm, several others did as well. In fact, when at all possible, they were able to save people that were caught in the water by pulling them to safety.
You start from the basement which originally housed the kitchen and the servants quarters. Currently, the basement is a gift shop and the place where you buy your tickets to get in. These stairs lead up to the first floor into...
..the butler's pantry. There's a closet in here a sink and a dumbwaiter which, I would assume, was used by the kitchen staff to send the food up to the warming kitchen/dining room. The sink is a "pullman" sink, from a "pullman" railcar.
On the first floor now, this was originally a warming kitchen. However when the house was sold to the Catholic Diocese, Bishop Byrne expanded the room.
From the door by the window, you come from the kitchen to the dining room. According to Wikipedia, the fresco on the ceiling was painted by Mrs. Gresham. I read that she was an amateur artist and had a studio up on the third floor.
Off the dining room is the solarium, which is, in my opinion, like an enclosed patio. It's to the side of the house and faces Sacred Heart Catholic Church across the street.
Walking out of the dining room and going directly across the hall is the music room. There were all types of instruments in here. With 9 kids, you could, in theory, have a good sized band or orchestra.
Still on the first floor, John is in the music room looking out to the hallway. The room to the right with the yellow walls is the parlor. Through the doorway, you can see the front door. Then straight head through the hallway is the dining room.
Coming in directly from the front door you see this beautiful staircase. I'm only sorry that I didn't take a photo of the whole room. The staircase swoops around to the second floor with a bit of a landing in between. There are lovely stained glass windows as you ascend.
This is a shot of the landing on the second floor as you climb the stairs. The banister is beautiful and I love all the dark wood. Also on the first floor is the library.
As you're ascending the staircase, you look up and you see this lovely dome.
At the top of the stairs is a hallway but it could be used as a living area. It wasn't like they had big screen tvs back then.
This is Mr. Gresham's room. It faces the front of the house. He has a lovely fireplace and a little sitting area where the Christmas Tree is.
This is a view out the window onto the terrace.
The floor to ceiling windows that lead out to the terrace. I think it would be nice to sit out there on a breezy day and just watch the people go by. Broadway is the main street and I would imagine that you'd see everyone go by at some point.
Walking into Mrs. Gresham's room from a doorway leading from Mr. Gresham's room. Notice in the corner of the room next to the AC unit, there's a small sink. There is also a portrait of Mrs. Gresham above the fireplace. The doorway between the bed and the window leads to the....
...bathroom. There are three knobs on the tub. One is for hot water, one is for cold and the last one is for rainwater.
Mr. Gresham died quite suddenly in 1920 while in Washington, D.C. The family sold the house to the Catholic Diocese in 1923. When Bishop Byrne moved in, he took one of the children's bedrooms for himself. The bathroom you see there used to be a closet but was converted by the Bishop.
This room used to belong to Josephine, one of the Gresham daughters. Bishop Byrne converted it to a small chapel.
The stained glass windows were added by the bishop as well. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The kneelers in the chapel.
There is a third floor but it's not on the regular tour. They do have a tour called Basement to Attic tour. This tour provides access to parts of the house that are not available to the public otherwise. The third floor is where the boys had their rooms. Also up there is Mrs. Gresham's studio. This affords one of the best panoramic views of Galveston, is what I'm told.
When I go back to Galveston, and I will, I'm taking that tour.
View from Sacred Heart. In 1963, the Catholic Diocese moved to Houston and opened the house up to tours. They sold the house to the Galveston Historical Foundation, who now runs and maintains the house. The original cost of the house was $250,000. The estimated cost today is about $5.5M.
I can only imagine living there. I love all the verandas. It would be expensive though. And, unless the kitchen was updated...
