Hendley Row

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Often, when I’m in Galveston with plenty of leisure time, I like to go downtown, into the Historic Strand District, and take a closer look at some of the landmark buildings. Usually, I take a few notes about the facades and interiors of the buildings and, afterwards, return to The Bungalow, go online and seek information about the significance of these treasured old buildings.

Today was one of those days, and Hendley Row was my destination of choice.

Though I have been over to Hendley Row dozens of times over the years to browse and shop at Hendley Market, I have never focused on the building itself. Because of its significance, it is time I did.

Hendley Row is a three-story, Greek Revival-style building, located in the 2000 block of The Strand. It is composed of four adjoining structures, all built in the years 1858-1859. Three of these are the oldest surviving commercial structures in Galveston. The building on the far west side, however, burned in 1866 and was rebuilt in 1867.

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The four buildings have common walls and a uniform brick facade, with rusticated granite quoins marking the separations between the four buildings. Granite plaques in the center of the upper story of each section contain the initials of the four original deed holders, Thomas M. League, Francois Gilbeau, Joseph J. Hendley and William Hendley, as well as the date of the building.

During the Civil War, Union and Confederate forces used the building. During the three-month Federal occupation of Galveston in 1862, Union troops used the building’s roof as their lookout spot. When the Confederate forces retook the port, they also used the Hendley roof to observe enemy troops and naval movements.

During reconstruction, the U.S. Commander at Galveston made the row his headquarters. In 1880, the United States Army Corps of Engineers had its headquarters here.

After the Civil War, prosperity returned to the island city. Before and after the turn of the century, the buildings in Hendley Row were home to banks, lawyers and other businesses.

In the 1970s, the two buildings on the west side of the row were fully restored. But, little by little the buildings on the east side fell into decay, and were left empty for nearly 15 years.

Fortunately, in early 2012, George Mitchell and the Mitchell family added the two east bays of Hendley Row to its Mitchell Historic Properties (MHP) portfolio. For many years, this portion of the building housed Demack & Co., a produce wholesaler that closed in 1999.

The stabilization and rehabilitation of the eastern half of the Hendley complex began almost immediately. The rehabilitation begun the revitalization of the surrounding edge of The Strand District. Construction work included extensive masonry and structural repair, restoration of historic windows, partial elevation of the ground level floors to ameliorate flooding issues and construction of a small egress stair addition at the rear.

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In February 2017, the Hendley Building was recognized by Preservation Texas at its 2017 Honor Awards Ceremony and Reception in Waco, Texas. The recipients of this award are recognized for successful efforts to save irreplaceable and authentic endangered historic places in Texas.

Fittingly, the offices of the Galveston Historical Foundation, founded as the Galveston Historical Society in 1871, is now located in this building - so too is its popular gift shop, Eighteen Seventy One.