Above: Photo of the house and workers searching for bodies and cleaning up debris after the 1900 Storm

The Amazing Story of

This old house

Not many structures make it to 175 years old, especially along the Texas Gulf Coast. Hurricanes, fire, rot and decay, neglect in economic hard times, and razing old structures to make way for modern buildings has been the downfall of many great structures, Yet the Powhatan House still stands; at least two sections of the original house still stand. But more about that later.

The Powhatan House was built in 1847 and is one of the oldest existing structures in Galveston. The original home was built by John Sydnor as a twenty-four-room personal residence. Sydnor was a prominent merchant and auctioneer, early proponent of the “cotton culture” in Texas, mayor of Galveston, financier, colonel in the Confederate Army, and sadly, the largest slave trader west of the Mississippi.

The Powhatan House serves as one of the oldest examples of Doric Greek Revival architecture in Texas and undoubtedly a display of Sydnor's newly acquired wealth. The original Powhatan house had a six-column portico, a characteristically Galvestonian raised basement or ground floor, and five acres of gardens planted with oleanders which were to become a feature of the island's gardens.

Above: Illustration of a cotton ship in Galveston Harbor

The house was built with lumber, windows, columns, hardware and moldings shipped from Maine in the holds of cotton vessels returning from the northern ports. The fabrication of houses for Texans in the seaports of Maine was one of the dominant elements of trade balance between Galveston and the North. Two other houses still standing in Galveston, the Menard House and the Samuel Mae Williams House, were also built of parts fabricated in Maine.

The Powhatan House(s) Today

Above: Only two sections of the original house remain today. This one at 2222 35th Street and another at 3427 Ave. O, at the corner of 35th Street and Ave. O.

Above: The Powhatan House at 3427 Ave. O is owned by the Galveston Garden Club.

What Did the Original House Look Like?

Above: A depiction of what the original house may have looked like

No photographs or architectural drawings are known to exist of the original, undivided structure. Sadly we may never know with certainty what the original house looked like.

But there are clues. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Sanborn Map Company created detailed maps of metropolitan areas to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas of the United States. During that period, Galveston was by far the most prosperous city in Texas and thus several Sanborn Maps were created of the Island.

The 1889 Sanborn Map was the last map created of Galveston before the house was divided and moved in 1893. At the time, the house served as home to the Island City Protestant Orphan Asylum.

Above: Section of the 1889 Sanborn Map showing a plan view of this housel

The House After the Civil War

After the Civil War, Sydnor liquidated most of his Galveston holdings, and it is thought that he sold the Powhatan House to a Mr. Bolton.  After purchasing the Powhatan House, Mr. Bolton made several attempts to operate schools and a military academy in the house’s spacious rooms, but all his efforts proved unsuccessful and he converted the Powhatan House to use as his private home.

In 1878, the house was rented and utilized as the Island City Protestant and Israelite Orphans Asylum. When Galveston businessman and philanthropist Henry Rosenberg died in May of 1893, he bequeathed $30,000 to construct a new orphanage on the site of the Powhatan House. The house was then divided into three sections and moved. Only two sections of the original house remain today, as the third, smaller section burned in 1928.