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Galveston Historical Foundation Announces Sally B. Wallace Preservation Awards, 2010
view award event photos
On May 7, at an evening reception at Ashton Villa, Galveston Historical Foundation announced the winners of its 2010 Sally B. Wallace Preservation Awards.
Awards were presented in four categories: rehabilitation, adaptive use, craftsmanship and community service.
Rehabilitation
Jhonny Langer won a rehabilitation award for the exterior rehabilitation of his residence, the 1914 Robert Gracey House at 3106 Avenue R. Langer, an expert in historic paint analysis, researched period-proper paint colors for his California-style craftsman house and repainted it to match the spirit of its origins. He restored the spacious front porch to its original design and had missing doors rebuilt using one of the originals as a template.
3106 Avenue R before
3106 Avenue R after
Stephen Austin and Cathy Hitchcock won a rehabilitation award for their work on the interior and exterior of the Arthur S.C. West House at 1608 Winnie. The owners purchased the house in 2006, and were traveling by car on their move from Portland, Oregon to Galveston, Texas the weekend Hurricane Ike came barreling down on the island. Thus their journey to their new home was delayed (although luckily their furniture was in transit too—not yet in Galveston at the time of the hurricane) but once Austin and Hitchcock made it onto the island, they used their extensive knowledge of historic preservation and Victorian style to painstakingly rehabilitate their storm-damaged historic home. Their home’s authentic historic interior design is particularly noteworthy.
1608 Winnie
Jeffrey M. Kaler received a rehabilitation award for the restoration of his home at 1605 Avenue K. The house was moved to its present location by GHF, as a part of its Revolving Fund program, in 2007, from an original location just north of First Presbyterian Church on 19th Street. GHF completed the move and exterior work while Kaler completed a full interior remodeling that included new custom kitchen and bathrooms, the installation of an elevator, completion of an 800-square foot addition, and an updating of the interior. Kaler received this award for the care and consideration he took in a modernization project that still respected and maintained original features including three sets of pocket doors, original floors, and other significant details.
1605 Avenue K
Adaptive Use
Galveston Storage Inc. won the 2010 adaptive use award for its part in bringing the Plantowsky Building at 2125 Church back into productive use after years of vacancy. They restored the building’s façade and converted it into a storage facility. Adaptive use refers to re-purposing a building in a new way that is different from its original use. In this case the building was originally designed as a department store. Previous owners “updated” the building with a flat slip cover and removed much of the brick architectural details. The new owners removed the slip cover and rebuilt the original wood windows. They repainted, built new ground-floor storefronts, created a historically accurate sign, and preserved the historic advertising on the building’s western side.
2125 Church before
2125 Church after
Craftsmanship
Local craftsman Henry Harrison received this year’s Craftsmanship Award for rehabilitating the windows on an 1894 house moved to the West End of the Island. Kathleen Bracken and David Weathers nominated Mr. Harrison for the work he completed restoring the original wood windows and getting them back into working order. He also built screens for the newly functioning windows from wood he reclaimed from a property that burned down in the East End a number of years ago.
Henry Harrison
Community Service
The San Jacinto Neighborhood Association and the City of Galveston Planning and Development department received the 2010 Community Service Awards for their shared role in creating the San Jacinto Neighborhood Conservation District. This conservation district established new guidelines aimed to monitor the demolition of buildings and new construction so that the neighborhood can still maintain its historic, eclectic working-class character and not be drastically changed by insensitive development.
“These awards are the Galveston Historical Foundation’s way of saluting people who are helping preserve the essence of Galveston, investing not only money but also love for our heritage,” said GHF Executive Director Dwayne Jones. “People who win these awards are our heroes. They are among the many who steadfastly support GHF and all its programs designed to retain the historic integrity of Galveston.”
The awards are named after the late Sally B. Wallace, one of the driving forces behind the Galveston preservation movement for decades and a pivotal figure in saving the antebellum Ashton Villa from demolition. Wallace also was the founder of Hendley Market, one of the first major businesses opened on the city’s historic Strand as the downtown restoration movement began.
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