Page 32 - Galveston Monthly Apr2019

islaNd hisTOrY | GALVESTON LOST

tHe lost

HeiDenHeiMer cAstle

1602 Sealy

By Kathleen Maca

t seems appropriate that Galveston’s fabled past includes ‘Modern’ fixtures and appliances were added to the home
a long lost castle. heidenheimer Castle once sat on the when the island got gas in 1859, and later electricity replaced
northwest corner of Sixteenth Street and Sealy Avenue on its lamps.
Ithe island’s prestigious East End. The darker side of Sydnor’s story involves his fame for
The original portion of the home was built in 1857 at 1602 operating the largest slave market west of New Orleans, acting
Avenue i (Sealy) for former Galveston Mayor John Seabrook as his own auctioneer. A slave owner himself, the booming
Sydnor in a much more voice he employed to sell
understated architectural slaves in both Galveston
style than it displayed in and houston was well
later years. known.
A rectangular, Greek Rumors about Sydnor
Revival structure with a claim that it he brought
hipped, slate roof was slaves to the house to
designed with a central be auctioned off on the
hallway and staircase block, transporting them
flanked by two rooms on from ships in the bay
each side, both upstairs through a secret tunnel
and downstairs. The connected to a basement.
walls were constructed They were supposedly
of bricks made from kept in the basement until
“tabby” concrete, created the time for auction at
by burning oyster shells the southwest corner of
to create lime, and then fifteenth and Postoffice.
mixing the lime with water, There is not much merit
sand, ash, and broken to these claims, however,
oyster shells. The home since the original home
is thought to have been did not have a basement,
the second poured-brick and later owners of the
structure built in the home found no trace of
united States. tunnels after thorough
Sydnor was the first searches. The sandy
man to cultivate oysters nature of the soil would
in Galveston waters so, also make their existence
in theory, he would have had ample access to shells for the unlikely.
process that was considered innovative in his day. After the Civil War, Sydnor left Galveston for New york, where
he had previously lived at the Powhatan house that was built he established a brokerage business that arranged for goods
in 1847, which his family constructed of lumber and millwork and supplies to be sent to Texas. he died in 1869, while on a
imported from Maine. visit to his son in Lynchburg, Texas. he was buried in Galveston’s
A successful businessman, Sydnor had many financial Oleander Cemetery. Image courtesy of Rosenberg Library
interests, including railroads, real estate, and a profitable his son, for whom Seabrook, Texas was named, was in charge
commission business. he constructed a brick wharf, and of Sydnor’s interests, and he sold his father’s home to Barnabas
advocated a bridge connecting Galveston island to the T. Loring of Boston for $7,000.
mainland, schools, and police and fire departments for the city. Multiple newspaper advertisements in the years that followed
Sydnor could afford the finest things available at the time. reveal that the home became a rental property with an ever-

32 | GALVESTON MONTHLY | APRIL 2019