Galveston’s Most Stunning Historic Houses: Island’s Still Fun of Hidden Gems as this Home Tour Shows

For more than four decades, the Galveston Historical Foundation has opened the doors to the island’s rich history via the annual Galveston Historic Homes Tour.

Eight homes, ranging from a stately circa-1868 Greek Revival former mayor’s home (Charles and Susan Hurley House, 1328 Ball) to a vernacular two-room alley house, circa 1880, that was saved from demolition by relocation in 2010 by the Galveston Historical Foundation (Alley House, 811 Broadway).

Other homes date from the Victorian era — prime examples of the trademark Galveston style. In a statement on Galveston’s rich preservation history, the youngest home on the tour dates to 1926.

New this year, in an effort to showcase GHF’s ongoing preservation efforts, are two properties presented as “rehabilitation in progress”: the 1915 Henry Hildebrand House at 3624 Avenue R ½ (first weekend only) and the 1920 City National Bank Building at 2219 Market Street (second weekend only). PaperCity serves as media sponsor of this home tour.

Friday – Saturday, May 6 – 7, 13 – 14; tickets $30 before May 5; $35 thereafter, at The Shop at the Palace, 1402 Broadway; Eighteen Seventy One, 2217 Strand; and Architectural Salvage Warehouse, 2228 Broadway; or online here.