DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's worth every word. Way back in 1870, a man named Charles Albertson put up a house in the Lost Bayou section of what's now Galveston's San Jacinto historical district. Albertson was a cotton buyer, active in Galveston all the way up to 1900, and the house he built was something to look at — two stories, octagonal columns, bracketed eaves.
A classic example of post-Civil War southern town house architecture, the kind of place that said, quietly but firmly, that somebody here meant to stay. And for thirty years, it stood right there in Lost Bayou while Albertson worked the cotton trade. Then came 1900.
Now, if you know anything about Galveston, you already feel what's coming. The great storm of 1900 rolled in and left that house seriously damaged. Seriously damaged — but still standing.
Let that settle for a moment. That house took the great storm of 1900 head-on and did not fall. Three years later, in 1903, a man named Ben Blum bought it.
Blum remodeled the house and divided the property — moved this east wing of the house east and closer to the street. Then he rented that east wing out, putting a roof over the heads of the wave of people flooding into Galveston in those years after the storm. A cotton buyer built it.
A great storm tested it. And it's still there, octagonal columns and all, to tell the tale.
What the marker says
This historic house was built in 1870 by Charles Albertson in the Lost Bayou section of the current San Jacinto historical district. Albertson was a cotton buyer active in Galveston until 1900. The great storm of 1900 left the house seriously damaged, but still standing. In 1903, Ben Blum bought and remodeled the house, and divided the property with this wing of the house moved east and closer to the street. Blum rented the east wing, supplying rented living space for the population influx to Galveston. The two-story house is a classic example of post-civil war southern town house architecture with octagonal columns and bracketed eaves. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2014