What a fantastical old palace. Ah, how I love the Trube!
The J.C. Trube House
The J.C. Trube House (1890), designed by architect Alfred Muller, has appeared in these pages before but only in passing, only as an example of the glorious architectural treasures still extant in this great old seaport town.
But the Trube House is different, singular even among her sister icons, and so today, as I was driving through the neighborhood, I couldn’t help but stop once again, marvel, and snap another photo, or two or three.
This grand old dame is truly unique on a number of fronts. To quote Howard Barnstone, in his fine historical compilation The Galveston That Was, “this is the strangest house in a city of strange houses.” Barnstone:
In an age when all houses faced the street, it took courage and inventiveness to design one whose entrance was at the corner of a block. The house plan breaks free from the academic schemes of the Greek Revival and the romantic revivals more than any other house in Galveston—certainly more than any of the great palaces. Essentially a raised brick cottage with a dormered and mansarded roof, this is the strangest house in a city of strange houses. The brick was stuccoed. The odd and exuberant abacuses which are seen above each column of the entry are probably structural corbels used to shorten the spans. The dormers are a collection which together give the appearance of an irregular pigeon roost. The tower on the north is a relatively traditional High Victorian Gothic expression. But the strangest element of all is the imitation chimney on the west front with a window through it announcing its lack of flue. Above the windows are voluptuous volutes piled one on another—the entire complex of building dormers, stucco towers, corbels and carved lintels adds up to a neo-Garnier quality which perhaps can be found nowhere else in the world. Here is the ultimate expression of the wealth of exuberance and vigor of Galveston—of the willingness to venture forth borrowing bits and pieces from every style and coming up with a conglomerate which is essentially something new.
That Barnstone. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
But mere words don’t do this curious old castle justice. The proof, and the pleasure, is in the looking.
And I’ll bet it’s really scary inside, too. Home tour, anyone? Halloween would be perfect…
