1516 Ball Street, Galveston , Texas 77550
A lovingly restored Victorian in the heart of Galveston's Historic East End
Come stay with us and walk to the beach and Strand!
The Belle's Story
A Beautiful Survivor
The Belle of Ball Street, 1516 Avenue H, has survived the Great Storm of 1900 (still the most cataclysmic natural disaster in U.S. history, with a death toll estimated between 8,000-12,000); the 1911 and 1915 hurricanes; Carla (1961); and Ike (2008), among many others. Flooding from Ike was a couple of inches on the main floor; the water came in and left within hours. If you look across the street and just to the left, you can see a marker on Miss Mercedes’ house showing the high-water mark for Ike.
She was originally built in 1897, at the height of Galveston’s prosperity, by Marine Insurance executive William F. Beers; she was designed by noted Galveston architect C.W. Bulger in the Queen Anne style. Mr. Bulger designed a number of fine homes, commercial buildings, and churches in Galveston and other towns in Texas and across the Southwest and Central U.S.
The house was remodeled in 1917, when the first floor front porch and second floor sleeping porch were added, changing the appearance to a more modern Craftsman style. The 1917 remodel also added the large bathroom upstairs and the current kitchen, and lowered the ceilings to just above the windows on the first and second floors. Until 1951, she was home to a number of Galveston notables, including the owner of Galveston’s largest department store; a UTMB surgeon; Galveston’s postmaster; Willam F. Moody III; and a UTMB professor.
In the 1950s, Mr. and Mrs. Easby purchased the house, converted the second and third floors into four apartments, installed metal window blinds and aluminum siding, and lived there until 2002.
In 2002, new owners commenced a three-year restoration. The aluminum exterior siding and metal blinds added in the 1950s were removed. The Belle was re-levelled and her interior was gutted, with new electrical, plumbing, HVAC systems, and insulation installed. The original windows have been preserved, including the floor to ceiling three-panel walk-through window in the second bedroom on the second floor. The lowered ceilings were removed and the coved ceilings on the first floor were reproduced. The flat paneling installed over the original wood paneling of the stairway in the entry was removed, and the paint was stripped from the staircase and the kitchen/butler’s pantry areas. The original floors were also refinished at this time; note the detail of the floor inlays of the first floor sitting room. Additional underfloor insulation was added in the 20-teens.
We (Rachel and Chris) bought her in December of 2020, and love her just the way she is. The Belle may be old, but she is true. She is far from perfect – as with all of these historic buildings, she leaks a little around the windows during a rainy blow. Taking care of a wooden building on a sub-tropical island subject to hurricanes is a labor of love, and she needs constant attention, which is hard to keep up with. You will notice damage to the shutters, which will be addressed the next time she is painted, probably in 2022/2023. We are renting her out to let other people appreciate her while she is still around, and to get your help in keeping an eye on her while we are away. Please let us know if you notice anything else that needs repair, so that we can add that to list and make sure it gets addressed.
