Setting the Stage at the Moody Mansion

Our next visit was to a fantastic home on Broadway. The Moody Mansion is a 28,000 square foot four-story home with 32 rooms which was built in 1895. Twenty of the rooms are open to the public for viewing.

W.L. Moody Jr. bought the home from the heirs of the original owners right after the great hurricane of 1900 for $20,000. Although not completely finished by the homeowners and suffering damage from the hurricane, the Moody’s moved right in. They ordered furnishings and began the restoration of the home in time to celebrate the first of eighty Christmas seasons in the home.

The tour begins in the Moody garage behind the house.

Mary Moody Northen made her social debut in the mansion’s ballroom in 1911. The family built a home for daughter Mary just down the street where she lived until her husband died and then she moved back home to live with her father until he died in 1954. Mrs. Moody had already died earlier on.

Mary lived on in the house and took her father’s place in his many business interests. The philanthropic legacy of the Moody family is carried on today by the Moody Foundation and the Mary Moody Northen Endowment.

No photographs are permitted inside the house so I had to borrow from the Internet. The furnishings are all original to the family and to the house. Each room on the main floor is decorated in a different style. The house was painstakingly restored in the late 1980’s and opened to the public in 1991. This is the library.

The grand staircase overlooked by a huge stained glass window with a closeup of the window to the right.

You can see the stained glass window from the outside in the center of the house. In the afternoon when the sun hits it, it lights up the inside of the house with a beautiful glow.

The dining room table opens to three times this size.

It is a beautiful home with gilded trim and fantastic wood paneling and floors. But I'm glad I don't have to clean it.

We had a beautiful clear day and you can see people of the beach near downtown as we drove home. We could even see a long line of ships lined up to enter Galveston harbor.

There is a wide 10 mile long sidewalk along the seawall which is enjoyed by walkers and bicyclists.