Photo 1 -
Texas Historical Commission. [Adak Building], photograph, Date Unknown; University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting Texas Historical Commission.
Photo 2 -
Texas Historical Commission. [Adak Building], photograph, Date Unknown; University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting Texas Historical Commission.
NOTE: for some reason, they have this building labled as the ADAK BUILDING in the photos - it is the Oppermann Building
Historically
From the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form
The Strand Historic District (Period of Significance Amendment), Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
54. Oppermann Building
1878 (John Moser)
2115 Strand part of Lot 4 Block 621
Contributing building High Victorian
Located at the western end of a row of narrow two-story buildings constructed after the 1877 fire, the four-bayOppermann Building has a cast-iron ground story and a stuccoed-brick second story. The ground story retains its original doorframes in the central two bays and newer storefront windows in the two peripheral bays. A rounded awning extends over each bay. The second story has four two-over-two wooden sash windows. The roof is flat. Gustav Oppermann constructed the building in 1878 as an investment property. He hired architect John Moser. A
detailed cornice has been lost.
The Strand Historic District (Period of Significance Amendment), Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Section 8 Page 46
By the end of 1877, the brief infatuation with Victorian Gothic ended. The building constructed to replace those lost in the fire of June 1877 exemplify the High Victorian commercial block that evolved from the 1870 rebuilding of the 2300 block. For this group, John Moser took a leading role. He designed two buildings for Clara Lang (2109 and 2119 Strand), and one each for Gustav Oppermann (2113 Strand), the firm of Marx and Kempner (2173 Strand), and
Sampson Heidenheimer (306 22nd Street), all completed in 1878. On the Strand buildings, Moser applied brick, stone, and cast iron in paneled layers, introducing new kinds of texture effects. The impact of his original designs are weakened by the loss of top stories and cornices and by the twentieth-century effacement of the facades at 2117 and 2119 Strand, but the survival of cast-iron arcades with Corinthian columns squared on 2109 and rounded on 2113
is significant in demonstrating the evolution of Victorian commercial buildings. Moser’s Heidenheimer-Hunter Building and the First National Bank Building (2127 Strand), designed by an unidentified architect, are the district’s two truest examples of High Victorian Italianate. The Bank building is distinguished by the integrity of its cast-iron features: the elevated first-story front with Corinthian capitals, the rounded and scrolled cast-iron window hoods, and
the elaborate cast-iron cornice. The Corinthian motif is carried over to the Heidenheimer-Hunter Building, located one block to the south, where second-story pilasters provide deep relief effects to the second story.
Biographical Notes on Architects
Section 8 Page 52
John Moser
Moser was born 1832 in Mannheim, Germany, and he received architectural training there. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1848 and practiced architecture in Ohio and Canada for some time. He arrived in Galveston by 1878, the year in which he designed the Heidenheimer-Hunter Building (306 22nd Street) and four buildings to replace those lost in the 1877 fire: the Marx and Kempner Building (2117 Strand), the Oppermann Building (2113 Strand), and the two Clara
Lang buildings (2121 and 2109 Strand). His greatest Galveston building, the 1878 Galveston Cotton Exchange Building, was demolished in 1938. By 1882, he had relocated to Anniston, Alabama. In 1883, he won first prize in a contest held by the American Institute of Architects. In 1890, he relocated to Washington D.C. to serve as the chief designer under Supervising Architect Mifflin E. Bell. He died in Atlanta in 1904. Despite his post-Galveston activity,
his since-demolished 1874 Galveston Cotton Exchange Building was the only project specifically mentioned in his AIA obituary
Today
Strand Brass & Christmas Store
For some people, decorating the Christmas tree means hanging gold balls, tinsel, and strings of popcorn on the boughs, and delicately placing an angel on the top. But at Strand Brass, glass fish and sea horses swim past the pine needles, purple Santa Clauses ho-ho-ho among the purple lights, and you many just find a big red cowboy hat perched on the top branch.
Here at Strand Brass and Christmas on the Strand, we believe that finding creative and offbeat ways to decorate for Christmas and other seasons is a challenging FUN!!
Located in the historic block of the Strand in downtown Galveston, Strand Brass is housed in a 125-year-old building that has served everything from a wholesale grocery store in 1870 to a cotton mart and later a bank. Today, you’ll be happy to find nutcrackers, ornaments, tree skirts, stockings, mats, wall art, flags, jewelry, wine glasses, Tervis tumblers, and so much more!
We have been family owned for more than 30 years! Please drop by and say hello, we are open year-round!