Mr. and Mrs. Gresham built this house back in the 1800s and paid around $250,000 to build it. That was the equivalent of about 3 million now. Wow.
Mr. Gresham was an executive for the railroad. Unlike the Moodys, he was not an entrepreneur and was not the "owner" or head of any companies. So, he had no place of importance or company to carry on in Galveston upon his death. His children all moved away. A couple of years after his death, his wife decided to move to Europe and put the house on the market. It was the 1920s. America was in the midst of the Great Depression and World War I had just ended. No one had much money, so, Mrs. Gresham was having a hard time selling her house.
The bishop that was head of the then Galveston/Houston Diocese lived on the island. At that time, Galveston was the headquarters for the Diocese because it was the booming town. The bishop lived in a small apartment and the Catholic church wanted him to have a larger place to live and conduct "business" from. They offered Mrs. Gresham $37,500 for the house and she took it.
Even though the house has been a museum for many years, the Galveston Historical Society recently purchased the house from the Catholic church for around 3 million.
The bishop lived in the house and of course was very much a minimalist. The church also did do some updating and a few renovations to modernize the house before the bishop moved out of the house and off the island. Most of the furniture then in the house moved with the bishop. So, there isn't much furniture/knick knacks/etc. left from the time period. However, Mrs. Gresham's granddaughter donated what is in the house after she visited the house several years ago.
Part of the house is in the process of being painted. Those rooms were off limits. In fact, there were a lot of rooms that were suppose to be on the tour that were off limits for one reason or another. I noticed signs of water damage close to the ceiling in one of the rooms. I was told that the roof has a leak and the entire roof needs to be replaced. Since it is an official historical house, the roof will have to be the same as the original roof. The cost to replace the roof will be 1 million. The historical society is in the process of raising money for the roof. I guess cake sales and car washes would be out of the question?
Unlike Moody Mansion, you are allowed to take pictures inside. Thank goodness. The guy who did the tour was not good. He just asked, "What do you want to know?" Well, how about everything you know about the house? Duh. You did have to know the right questions to ask and keep asking questions to get any information. Disappointing to say the least.
They do offer a self-guided tour with headphones and maybe that would have been better. I've posted some pictures below. My advice, buy the single ticket to Moody Mansion and read about Bishop Palace on the internet.
Outside of the Bishop's Palace
One of the fireplaces. There was a fireplace in every room. Notice the cherubs. Mrs. Gresham was an artist and painted cherubs all over the house.
One of the many ceilings .
An original chandelier in the house. There was electricity throughout the house when it was built. Very ahead of their time.
One of the many stained glass windows. Beautiful.
They called this the podium. It was a landing in the staircase. Mr. Gresham would stand there and give speeches and welcome guests when they entertained. Notice the Texas seal in the woodwork.
This was the butler's pantry. Mrs. Gresham's china is on the right. The Bishop's china is on the left. Mrs. Gresham hand painted the design on her china.
This is the ceiling in the middle of the house. If you see the little rectangles at the bottom of the skylight, these opened and during the summer, the hot air would rise up there and go out of the house. Most of the windows in the house were floor to ceiling. People opened them to try to stay cool. The wind would rush in and then rise up. Something I learned at Moody Mansion was they did not have screens so they slept with mosquito netting on their beds. The houses would get full of mosquitoes and flies. Galveston had an outbreak of yellow fever about every 5 years because of the mosquitoes. Yikes!
This sink was in Mr. Gresham's dressing area. No toilet or tub. He would shave here.
Mr. Gresham's bed
Mrs. Gresham's bed
This room was originally one of the Gresham's daughter's bedroom. Once the Bishop moved in, he converted it to the room where he held mass everyday.
This is the study/library. The books are not of the period. They just used them to fill the cabinets. Not sure why.
More cherubs painted on the ceiling by Mrs. Gresham.
This is what they called the conservatory. The wicker furniture is the original wicker furniture put in this room by the Greshams.
Remember me saying in my previous post that the houses on this side of Broadway were not damaged during the 1900 storm because of all the debris that piled up and made a dam down Broadway? So, one other piece of history about the Greshams. During the 1900 storm, the Greshams went outside during the storm and helped rescue around 200 people who were floating down the street. They took them into their home for safety. After the storm, it is estimated that at one time, they had about 500 people living in their home because most of the island's houses were destroyed. Can you imagine? About a year after that, Mrs. Gresham decided that she needed to take a trip to Europe. I bet she did.
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