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.
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.