Page 26 - Ma 2023 Galveston Monthly

roadwork.
Luckily for the new residents, who have restored other
historic properties in Galveston, the cottage’s previous
owners appreciated the history of the home and saved
original pine floors and other elements.
“If they replaced a door, they kept the original
downstairs. They even retained the doors to the built-in
cabinet in the dining room with most of the original glass
still intact. Window sash hardware was predominantly
here, and all of the door hardware was left, so we just
decided to put it back like it would have been.”
The restoration planning process was aided by Rosenberg
Library’s Galveston Texas History Center, which has
Clayton’s original concept drawings for the house. The
house was also featured in the book Clayton’s Galveston.
The couple’s first big project in restoring the home was
addressing the numerous windows.
“We took all of the windows apart, reglazed them, redid
the wax, and used turpentine slurry for the windows
to get both the top and bottom sashes to where they
opened, and went from there.“
Original transom windows were in working order when
they moved in, though some of the metal had been
painted and required stripping to allow the rods to
function again. The window shutters were removed and
sent to New Orleans to be dipped and restored.
Insurance records for the structure reveal all of the
rooms were originally papered except the kitchen and
bathroom, which were painted board walls.
“you could tell the rooms that weren’t wallpapered
originally, because the tongue and groove (boards) on
them is tighter. The wood planks in the kitchen and
bathroom which were always exposed walls are a higher
quality wood, and the boards are narrower so that if they
shrank it wouldn’t be enough to create a gap in the joints.
In the rest of the rooms, which were papered, there are
board walls of wider, lesser quality wood.”
Drywall that was installed over walls by previous owners
was placed directly on top of earlier wallpaper. “When we
cut a hole for the air-conditioning, we could peel off the
old drywall and see wallpaper behind it. They had tacked
up cheesecloth on the original walls and wallpapered on
top of it.”
The original wallcovering inspired the couple’s choice of
new wallpaper for their living room. “It was interesting
because it had swirls of silver on off-white, with a metallic
sheen.”
“The wallpaper we chose is from Bradbury & Bradbury
in California. It’s a hand silk-screened reproduction of a
documented Herter Brothers room set with passion flower
vines and metallic accents. The design dates from about
1880s, and this house is 1896, but I think it suits the house
well.”
The highly patterned set was painstakingly pieced into
a meticulously-pieced star pattern at the center of the

26 | GALVESTON MONTHLY | MAY 2023