Third Annual Sally B. Wallace Historic Preservation Award Recipients Announced

View award event photos

On the evening of May 12th the Galveston Historical Foundation (GHF) hosted its annual celebration of historic preservation in the recently rehabbed Menard Hall at 3302 Ave O. The event was open to the public and friends of Galveston’s historic buildings gathered to commemorate a number of award winning projects.

“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.

This year, awards were presented in four categories: Rehabilitation, Restoration, New Construction/In-fill, and Craftspeople.

Rehabilitation

The first of four Rehabilitation Awards went to Debbie and Mike Box for the rehabilitation of two small cottages on their property at 1207 15th Street. The Box’s installed a new roof, rehabbed the windows, repaired the front porch along with building a new patio along the L-shaped addition to the shotgun-style house, applied a fresh coat of paint, and installed a new fence along 15th Street. A second house on the property was demolished prior to them buying the lots. To replace this demolished building, in 2006 the Box’s purchased a house that needed moved off of a lot at 25th and Postoffice. This was the third move for this house from its original location at the Goodman and Moore Lumber Company on 30th Street between Church and Winnie. Following Hurricane Ike this moved property also needed work to repair storm damage. With completing this project, the Box family has saved a unique building from being lost and also repaired a neglected building to help improve the streetscape of 15th Street and the San Jacinto neighborhood.

1207 15th Street

Donna and Noel Spencer won the second Rehabilitation Award for the work they completed on their 1899 house at 1507 24th Street. While repairing the storm damage from Hurricane Ike the Spencers moved forward with trying to bring back some of the lost exterior elements. Earlier in its life the house was converted into a duplex, covered with asbestos siding and the front porches were filled in for more rentable space. The Spencers removed the asbestos siding, gained approval from the Landmark Commission to rebuild the first floor porch, repainted the house, and installed a new fence along the front yard.

1507 24th Street

The most extensive rehabilitation to receive an award this year is at 1201 25th Street. The owners, Angelika and Boris Gritzka, wanted to bring the house back to its original form. To do this, they needed to demolish two failing additions to the west and the south sides of the house, reopen the double porch on the front of the house, and also remove a drop ceiling from the interior. Removing the later additions was only the first step to revealing more areas to repair. Hoping to keep the house close to its original form the owners decided to repair and replace the exterior siding, rehab the windows instead of replacing them, and finished the exterior with a fresh coat of paint. On the interior they needed to install all new plumbing, electrical wiring, and HVAC systems as these systems needed updating. They also kept the original floor plan of the interior while re finishing the historic floors, all wall finishes needed redone, and adding a period inspired bathroom to the first floor. While the walls were opened up the owners took the opportunity to install some insulation to improve the house’s energy efficiency.

1201 25th Street

The owners of 1201 25th Street were so happy with the work completed on their house that they nominated their contractor, East End Construction, for a Craftsmanship Award. Our panel of judges gave both the homeowner and contractor awards for all the work done to turn around this property on a very visible corner of the Silk Stocking Historic District.

The final Rehabilitation Award of the night was presented to Mary and Leroy LeFlore for their work on the 1887 Gustav Reymershoffer house at 1302 Postoffice. Luckily, Hurricane Ike’s storm surge did not reach the inside of the house, but it did cause considerable damage to the exterior. The owners used the storm as their reason to move forward with some projects they had planned. On the exterior of the house they needed to repair the staircase leading to the front porch, they also rebuilt or replaced a number of damaged shutters, replaced rotted siding, and applied a fresh coat of paint. The owners also installed new railings on the widows walk on the roof to bring it back into use. One less visible exterior change was the repointing of deteriorated brick piers and replacing select structural beams that threatened the future stability of the house.

1302 Postoffice

Restoration

The only Restoration Award of the night given out was presented to Christie and Kevin Rekoff for the restoration of the slate roofing on the house, garage, and pool house for the 1929 W.L. Moody III property at 16 Cedar Lawn Drive South. The Rekoffs made the decision to have all the slate tile replaced on their roofs with the same material instead of going with a less expensive alternative. The Cedar Lawn neighborhood is not governed by the same guidelines as the City’s historic districts, the owners voluntarily made this costly in-kind replacement of materials to help preserve the architectural character of this landmark property.

16 Cedar Lawn Drive South

New Construction/In-Fill

The New Construction/In Fill Award for this year was presented to John Menna and Mike Wodecki for all their hard work and persistence towards ensuring the 61st Street Fishing Pier was rebuilt after it was destroyed by Hurricane Ike. The owner’s insurance did not cover the cost of reconstruction but he was convinced that rebuilding the pier would inspire hope in rebuilding Galveston.

61st Street Fishing Pier

Craftsmanship

The second Craftsmanship Award of the night was presented to Building Solutions for their work on GHF’s Green Revival House at 3101 Ave Q. The Green Revival House was a project to transform a house that was donated to GHF into a model home to show that historic houses can be made energy efficient and that this objective can be completed while being both environmentally friendly and sensitive towards the original materials. Building Solutions managed to find innovative approaches to common problems facing those living in historic buildings, such as historic wood window repair and maintenance, good HVAC design, and insulation, which required a new strategy for resisting mold and rot inside the wall cavities. The most challenging aspect of the project was bringing the energy performance of the house up to the levels prescribed by the LEED for Homes rating system. Because of this, the project necessitated daily coordination between Building Solutions, GHF, LEED representatives, as well as the usually assortment of subcontractors and designers. Chris Arneson, Dana Hardy, George Chapa of Building Solutions handled this aspect of the project, in particular, with class and professionalism.

3101 Ave Q