2024-03-09 Bishop's Palace, Galveston TX

The house now known as the Bishop's Palace was built from 1887 to 1892 for Colonel Walter Gresham and his wife Josephine and their nine children. Gresham was an attorney and entrepreneur. He came to Galveston from Virginia following his service in the Civil War. He was a founder of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad and worked to bring about the merger of the Santa Fe with the Atchison and Topeka Railroad. He also served in the Texas Legislature.

The house itself was designed by Nicholas Clayton.  An oversized house built on a small lot makes it unique among similar houses of its period and architectural style.

The house itself is beautiful and definitely worth seeing. However, some advice for visitors. You can book a private guided tour or you can tour it on your own. They have handheld devices which have information on each numbered site in the house.  My SIL and I were told that since we came together, we would have to share a device. Insist on a device for each person that paid for a ticket. They had plenty of devices on hand. If they run short, they should wait until others finish the tour and turn in the device as it would be too crowded to enjoy the tour with several people sharing all the available devices.  Second. if there is a guided tour going on, wait until they are done. We were behind a guided tour as were several others. We tried to go in the opposite direction in order to not interfere with the tour. The guide was way less considerate. His spiel was very loud. The sound on our shared device was so low that you could only hear it when it was completely quiet. The two of us along with several other people were off in a different room trying to hear the descriptions on the device. The guide walked in, walked right up behind us and started talking extremely loudly so it was impossible for us to hear anything. It was completely rude on his part. In hindsight, we should all have just tagged along on his private tour.

So, don't miss a chance to see this fantastic house but don't allow your experience to be ruined by a loud guide and not having a device for each paid ticket.

The painted ceilings and woodwork in the house were amazing.

The chandeliers and fireplaces were so beautiful. There were also a number of paintings done by Mrs. Gresham. She was very talented.

The stained glass around the circular staircase lit the entire area even though it was not that sunny out. Notice the small circular area above the heads of the people. Mr Gresham apparently liked to stand there and address his family down below.

Many of the windows opening out onto the balconies were made to open so you could walk out onto the balcony like it was a door. As I said, very worthwhile to see this amazing place but ensure that you can actually enjoy the self-guided tour.