Page 47 - Let's Make Waves - October 2018

T. Jefferson League Building The Tremont House Thompson & Co. Building Washington Building
2301 Strand 2300 Mechanic Street 112 23rd Street 2228 Mechanic Street
The Thomas Jefferson League The 1879 building, formerly a dry Designed by Nathaniel W Tobey In 1873 John Parker Davie had
Building, built in 1871, was the goods concern, is now a romantic in 1877 for Wolston, Wells, & erected on this corner a four-story
first building purchased by the hotel that captures the spirit and Vidor (a group of cotton mer- sixty-room hotel. Originally the
Mitchells in ‘76 in a dilapidated elegance of its predecessors. When chants The Thompson & Co. Cosmopolitan, it was renamed the
state. League, son-in-law of Samu- the hotel opened in 1985, it was Building was partially restored in Washington the year after the fa-
el May Williams, one of Galves- the first major hotel to open in 1986. Now the building is home to mous old Washington Hotel at
ton's founders, erected the build- downtown Galveston in sixty Thompson Lofts, which features 21st and Mechanic Street burned
ing on the former site of Moro years and was a catalyst for the seven contemporary lofts in a down in the fire of 1877. The
Castle, the Island's most famous revitalization of Galveston's his- historic building. structure was severely damaged by
saloon that burned in 1869. toric downtown. fire in 1983 and rebuilt in 1986.

Hendley Building Hotel Galvez Hutchings-Sealy Building Berlocher Buildings I & II
2000-2016 Strand St. 2024 Seawall 2326-2328 Strand 2315 Mechanic Street
The Hendley Building is the oldest The only historic beachfront hotel The Hutchings-Sealy building was One of the earliest commercial
remaining commercial building in on the Gulf Coast of Texas, this built in 1895 and completed blocks in Galveston, this row of 3-
Galveston. Constructed in 1860, fully restored property bears the Strand Avenue. Although the story Greek Revival buildings was
the Greek Revival-style building is name of Bernardo de Galvez, who building appears to be a single- constructed for John Berlocher in
four, attached brick buildings lo- surveyed the area in 1786. In 1900, structure, it actually consists of 1858 for his liquor and lumber
cated in the Strand District. The company. His original building
building was constructed to serve a hurricane devastated the city as two adjoining structures made to suffered fire damage in 1856 as an
as offices for brothers William and the worst national disaster in his- look like one. The corner building arsonist set fire to the Strand. To-
Joseph Hendley, cotton and com- tory, claiming and estimated 6,000 with "Hutchings" housed a bank day, it houses retail on the first
mission merchants. The building to 8,000 lives. Central to the cou- while the adjoining "Sealy" build- floor and The Quarters at the
served as a Confederate watch rageous rebuilding that followed ing was built to house the Sealy Tremont House hotel suites on
tower during the Civil War. Gran- was the construction of a 17-foot offices. The Texas Historical the upper floors.
ite plaques in the center of the Seawall, Causeway to the main- Commission placed a marker just
upper story of each section con- land, and with the 1911 opening outside the Hutchings Sealy Build- These are just a few historical sites
tain the initials of the four original of Hotel Galvez, Galveston, Texas ing in 1982, in honor of the build- on the Island. Stay tuned next
deed holders. Thomas M. League, month as we dive into more of the
F. Gilbeau, Capt. Joseph J. was reborn as a treasured vacation ing's architect, Nicholas Clayton: rich history on our beloved island.
Hendley, William Hendley and the destination. (November 1, 1839 - December 9,
date of the building. 1916) www.wavesgalveston.com

Waves Magazine | October 2018 Issue | 47