Page 33 - Galveston Monthly Apr2019

reducing price tag. the sarcastic headline, “houston at Last a Salt Water Port: God
The home’s most colorful chapter, and the one that earned furnished the Water and heidenheimer furnished the Salt.”
it the nickname of “castle,” began when Loring sold the Samson and his wife Anna had no children of their own,
property to Samson heidenheimer for $2,250 cash, in 1884 - an though their niece Rosa lived with them for a short time. This
estimated $65,000 today. might explain why they were able to focus their attention on a
heidenheimer was already intimately acquainted with the grand expansion of the home on Sealy that began in 1885, and
property, having been mentored by Sydnor and acted as a cost an astonishing $20,000.
rental agent for Loring. his plans for the home, however, would keeping the original structure as the front of the home, a
in no way reflect its past. rear three-story L-shaped wing of stuccoed brick walls with a
heidenheimer arrived in Galveston about 1858, after briefly mansard roof was added facing Sixteenth Street. An octagonal,
settling in New york where his sister was living. As a German four-story tower with Gothic details and crenulation joined the
citizen, he was not called to serve in the Civil War, so he stayed old structure and new addition on the northwest corner, giving
on the island and smuggled cotton for the Confederacy to the home a castle-like appearance. The original hipped roof
British ships waiting outside of the blockaded harbor. The was embellished with gabled dormers.
enterprise was reported to have netted him a small fortune On the east side, a two-story addition provided an outdoor
during the war. terrace with cement balustrade. its flat deck roof had a terne
The merchant’s business dealings also included serving metal covering. The porch was constructed as a “ruin” carefully
Image courtesy of Rosenberg Library grocery and commission business with his brothers. Stories Now totaling an impressive 37 rooms, the home featured
covered with moss. This romanticized style, known as “pleasing
as director for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa fe Railway,
managing a paper bag company, and operating a wholesale
decay,” was highly popular with victorians.
have it that he began by running a coffee stand on the Strand in
massive front doors, double parlors, several stained glass
front of George Rains’ bar, but this is likely just a bit of colorful
windows, a skylight, elaborately detailed walnut newel posts
local folklore.
and balustrades, and a winding, wood staircase leading from
the first floor to an exit at the captain’s walk on the roof. The
he did have a flair for the dramatic, and he made headlines in
walnut-paneled dining room showcased a beautiful, hand-
the early days of the Port of houston. he had shipped a load of
carved buffet, and a carved fish net chandelier mounting.
salt up the shallow Buffalo Bayou, and the shipment was caught
A stunning 27 fireplaces populated the main rooms of the
in a rainstorm dissolving it entirely. The Galveston News printed
APRIL 2019 | GALVESTON MONTHLY | 33