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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2008
CONTACT: Molly Dannenmaier
Director of Marketing and Public Relations,
409-765-7834
Galveston Historic Homes Tour Continues This Weekend
Event Features Private Homes, Special Events, and the Re-Opening of the 1839 Williams House as Designer Showhouse
Tickets to the 34th annual Galveston Historic Homes Tour, continuing this weekend, Saturday, May 10 and Mother's Day Sunday, May 11, from 10am to 6pm each day, are available online at the Galveston Historical Foundation (GHF) website, by phone at 1-877-772-5425, and at the Heritage Visitors Center at Ashton Villa.
Ten houses dating from 1839 to1912 will be on view, with seven special events offered and, for the first time, a showhouse featuring the work of professional interior designers in the island’s second-oldest home.
The Homes Tour will take place on the weekends of May 3 and 4 and May 10 and 11 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Advance tickets to the Historic Homes Tour are $20, or $15 for groups of 20 or more, and for GHF Members. (Member tickets are sold only at GHF headquarters.) Beginning May 3, the first day of the tour, tickets are $25.
“We’ve got a great lineup of homes this year,” said Clay Wade, events director at GHF, “and an exciting new feature in the re-opening for a month of our own 1839 Williams House. The interior has been updated to serve the house’s original purpose: as an elegant and comfortable single-family home. But it’s a home with 170 years of history.”
Twelve teams of volunteer designers have applied their talents to the dwelling and will show it off on weekends through May as the Spring Designer Showhouse, a community service project of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). The Williams House will be open for tours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the two Homes Tour weekends, and from noon to 4 p.m. on the weekends of May 17-18 and 24-25. Tickets to the Showhouse are $15, or they may be packaged with Homes Tour tickets, at a savings of $5, for a total of $30 in advance, or $35 beginning May 3.
A variety of other special events will augment this year’s tour, beginning with “First Impression: An Evening Preview,” when five homes will be open from 5:30 to 9 p.m., Friday, May 2, including the Williams House and the 1892 Bishop’s Palace, where light hors d’oeuvres and wine will be served from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
This year’s lineup of historic homes includes:
The 1859-61 John M. and Catherine Allardyce House, 1227 Ball Avenue
An antebellum middle-class family home and survivor of the 1885 Fire and the 1900 Storm
The c. 1870 Marcus and Laura McLemore House, 1019 16th Street
Built as a private residence, the double-gallery Greek Revival house served for over 80 years as the Lasker Home for Homeless Children
The 1877 Thompson & Company Building Lofts, 112 Tremont (23rd Street)
Built by cotton merchants Wolston, Wells and Vidor in 1877 as part of the expansion of the Galveston Wharf Front, now undergoing complete transformation by the George Mitchell Companies into residential lofts and retail spaces
The 1887 M. Howard and Minnie Carnes House, 1914 Avenue M
A notable example of eclectic Victorian architecture designed by Galveston’s notable German architect Alfred Muller and now known as the Coppersmith Inn
Mrs. Mary Lee’s Tenant House, 1888, 2018 Avenue M
One of the oldest houses in the Lost Bayou District, this gable-front Victorian represents a popular architectural form in Galveston.
The 1891 Dr. Cary and Eliza Wilkinson House (restoration in progress) 1605 Avenue K
A raised Victorian center-hall cottage highlighted with a sunburst gable front, moved from 19th Street by GHF in 2007, now being rehabilitated and expanded
The 1895 Roland P. Allen House, 1402 24th Street
A raised cottage with gable front featuring unusual Eastlake windows and door details, part of the site originally occupied by the 1871 Texas Cotton Press
The 1905 Joseph L. Gengler, Jr. House, 2102 Avenue P
A high-raised gable-front cottage with wrap-around porch and a commanding view of the Gulf
The c.1912 R. H. Settle House, 3202 Avenue Q
A two-story craftsman house that features original light fixtures, floor-to-ceiling windows and a wrap-around porch
Special events during this year’s Historic Homes Tour include:
First Impression: An Evening Preview. Five properties will be open from 5:30 to 9 p.m., Friday, May 2, including the 1892 Bishop’s Palace, where wine and light hors d’oeuvres will be served, and the ASID Spring Designer Showhouse, the 1839 Williams House. Admission to First Impression is $60, and includes a ticket to the Homes Tour.
Moonlight and Martinis: A Night in Hollywood. Lavish hors d’oeuvres, cash bar and dancing to the Mambo Jazz Kings in the Top Gallant Room of the 1872 League Building, 2301 The Strand. Saturday, May 3, from 8 p.m. to midnight. $85 individual or $150 per couple, including tickets to First Impression and the Homes Tour.
History Redesigned. A reception (noon to 12:30 p.m.), luncheon/lecture at The Tremont House, 2300 Ship’s Mechanic Row with the designers of the ASID Spring Designer Showhouse, the Samuel May Williams House (12:30 to 1:30 p.m.). Following lunch guests will be shuttled to the Williams House for dessert and a personal tour. $45 per person
Linen and Lace. A Mother’s Day Champagne Brunch at the Garten Verein dancing pavilion in Kempner Park, 2704 Avenue O, featuring a “One-Suitcase Travel Wardrobe” fashion show by the Atrium Boutique. Sunday, May 11, 10 a.m. to noon. $45 per person, including ticket to the Homes Tour.
The Architecture of Historic Galveston. A deluxe motor-coach tour of Galveston’s most historic neighborhoods, narrated by GHF’s executive director, Dwayne Jones. Light morning refreshments. 9:30 a.m. to noon, May 3 and 8. $50 per person including ticket to the Homes Tour.
An Exercise in History. A morning walk through the East End or The Strand National Historic Landmark Districts led by a knowledgeable guide. 10 to 11:30 a.m., Sundays, May 4 and 11. $5 per person.
Historic Hotels Weekday Discount Packages for Homes Tour patrons are a new feature of this year’s Galveston Historic Homes Tour. Homes Tour guests are invited extend their stay in Galveston into the week, with discounted weekday rates at the Tremont House and the Hotel Galvez, members of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Historic Hotels of America. The package, offered Sundays through Thursdays in May (except May 25), includes accommodations for two and a pass to six GHF historic properties, and costs $177 per night at the Galvez or $184 at the Tremont House, based on double occupancy. Additionally, the Tremont House will be offering a special Mother’s Day weekend rate of $175 per night in conjunction with Homes Tour.
This year, ticket holders to Galveston’s Historic Homes Tour will be admitted free to the 1890 Ashbel Smith Building—“Old Red”— Nicholas Clayton’s masterpiece of Victorian gothic institutional architecture and first home of the University of Texas Medical Branch, at 914 The Strand. They also will be admitted free to the 1877 Official Tall Ship of Texas, ELISSA, and the Texas Seaport Museum, at 21st Street and Harborside Drive.
For more information, log on to www.galvestonhistory.org, or call 409-765-7834.
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