Galveston Orphans Home - Galveston, TX - Victorian Style Architecture on Waymarking.com

"In 1894, funds allocated toward the construction of a modern orphanage were bequeathed to the city of Galveston by philanthropist Henry Rosenberg. From newspaper accounts and photographs of the time, it is known that this first orphans' home, built at the present site, was an impressive Gothic Revival structure. The new public building was to be in use for only five years as the 1900 hurricane and flood destroyed the structure almost totally. Reconstruction of the facility was finally accomplished in 1902.

When the orphans' home was rebuilt in 1902, the architect, Alfred Muller, chose to change the very nature and style of the building. By retaining most of the lower story and basement and changing only the second story and roof line, Muller eloquently and simply moved the building from the Gothic to the renaissance period style. Variously called "eclectic Romanesque Renaissance" and "eclectic Renaissance Revival, " this massive building is more closely described by the latter. Built with minor changes upon the E-shaped floor plan, the new ‘U’-shaped building's tripartite scheme was emphasized by adding corbeled brick string courses to separate the base and upper two floors. The east (front) facade is composed of three bays and is bilaterally symmetric about the projecting entry portico. The colonnade defining the portico was reconstructed of segmental arches resting upon paired brick piers and corbeled imposts. A pierced brick parapet in turn rests upon the arches."