Monday, October 09, 2006

Victorian Splendor

Galveston is well known for it's period Victorian architecture, and while I was there I took pictures of three old houses and an old apartment that were special to me. This one was Miss Dorthea Fredrick's house, an old friend of my great aunt. The president of the local chapter of DRT in the 60's, she gave several teas in this house that I attended as a child.
This house belonged to the Cherry sisters, Ida and Ruby. Two maiden sisters, never married, who had very odd habits and taught me deportment three times a month in the summer. Also very good friends with my great aunt, they were in their eighties during the 60's. Their table settings were amazingly gothic and intricate, and I remember being strangely impressed with the way they set their table for the next meal after finishing one. This was my great aunt's house until the beginning of 1970, when she decided it was too big and old for her to navigate at her advanced age. I spent many a night on that balcony gazing at the constellations with a star chart.
My great aunt's apartment building from 1970 on. She lived in the top left apartment, and rented out the other three. It had a smaller yard than her house, and was within blocks of downtown. A painter, her landscape and still life paintings were superb, but oh what a scandal she caused with the nudes she hung in her foyer. :)

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