DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at 1416 Broadway has to say — and friend, this one's worth pulling over for. Now, you want to talk about building on hard ground, let's talk about Galveston in 1902. The island was still picking itself up off the floor after the most devastating hurricane in recorded history.
Buildings all over town had taken a beating — including one particular house sitting at 1416 Broadway. Damaged, waiting, as if it knew something was coming. Sometime in the early 1900s, a man named Carl Christian Biehl stepped off a boat from Germany and onto Galveston soil.
He didn't waste much time getting to work. In 1905, he founded a shipping company — the very outfit now known as Biehl and Company — and that company was out there servin' Galveston before the Port of Houston was even a notion on a map. Carl also found time to marry Hilda Reymershoffer soon after arriving, and together they had three children.
A man building a business, building a family, building a life on an island that the Gulf of Mexico had already tried to erase once. So when Carl Biehl looked at that battered house at 1416 Broadway in 1915, he didn't patch it. He cleared the site.
He was going to do this right. He hired noted architect Anton F. Korn, Jr. to design something that could stand up to whatever the Gulf wanted to throw at it — brick, concrete, built to last.
Korn delivered. The house was completed in 1916 in a Classical Revival architectural style. Clean lines.
Symmetrical facade. Discreet, even — a deliberate step away from all that ornate Victorian flair that had been fashionable before the turn of the century. But don't let the word discreet fool you.
Step inside and Korn's design opens right up — original hardwood floors, oak paneling and moldings, three fireplaces. And then there are the details that make you stop and grin. A spacious attic that the Biehl children used as a gymnasium.
An honest-to-goodness functioning cistern out back that still works to this day. A rare thing, that. Carl Biehl passed away in 1936.
Hilda followed ten years later. But the house? The house stayed in the family.
Their daughter, Margaret — known to everyone as Sis — Biehl, a local artist, lived in that home and cared for it until her own passing in 2008. Nearly a century of Biehls under that roof. The house has survived many hurricanes since 1916.
It sits right next door to Bishop's Palace, the island's most famous mansion. And it's still standing — brick and concrete and oak paneling and all — right there on Broadway where Carl Biehl decided, once and for all, to build something that wouldn't be moved. Some things you build for your family.
Some things, it turns out, you build for everyone.
What the marker says
IN 1902, GALVESTON WAS STILL RECOVERING FROM THE MOST DEVASTATING HURRICANE IN RECORDED HISTORY. MANY BUILDINGS WERE BADLY DAMAGED, INCLUDING THE HOUSE AT 1416 BROADWAY. IN THE EARLY 1900s, CARL CHRISTIAN BIEHL IMMIGRATED TO GALVESTON FROM GERMANY. HE FOUNDED A SHIPPING COMPANY IN 1905, NOW KNOWN AS BIEHL AND COMPANY, WHICH SERVICED GALVESTON BEFORE THE PORT OF HOUSTON WAS ESTABLISHED. CARL MARRIED HILDA REYMERSHOFFER SOON AFTER ARRIVING IN GALVESTON AND THEY HAD THREE CHILDREN. IN 1915, BIEHL PURCHASED THE DAMAGED HOME AND CLEARED THE SITE TO BUILD A NEW STRUCTURE FOR HIS FAMILY. DESIGNED BY NOTED ARCHITECT ANTON F. KORN, JR., THE HOME WAS COMPLETED IN 1916 IN A CLASSICAL REVIVAL ARCHITECTURAL STYLE. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE HOUSE CONSISTED OF BRICK AND CONCRETE TO STAND UP TO THE HURRICANES AND STRONG WINDS COMMON TO GALVESTON. KORN'S DESIGN FEATURED A FRONT VERANDA, ORIGINAL HARDWOOD FLOORS, OAK PANELING AND MOLDINGS, AND THREE FIREPLACES. THE EXTERIOR WAS DESIGNED TO BE SYMMETRICAL AND DISCREET, A CHANGE IN AESTHETICS FROM VICTORIAN DESIGN COMMON BEFORE THE TURN OF THE CENTURY. SOME UNIQUE FEATURES INCLUDE A SPACIOUS ATTIC THAT WAS USED AS A GYMNASIUM FOR THE CHILDREN AND A RARE FUNCTIONING CISTERN AT THE BACK OF THE HOUSE. CARL PASSED AWAY IN 1936 AND HILDA PASSED TEN YEARS LATER. THE HOME REMAINED IN THE BIEHL FAMILY AND WAS CARED FOR BY THEIR DAUGHTER, MARGARET "SIS" BIEHL, A LOCAL ARTIST, UNTIL HER PASSING IN 2008. THIS HISTORIC HOME SURVIVED MANY HURRICANES SINCE 1916 AND SITS ADJACENT TO THE ISLAND'S MOST FAMOUS MANSION, BISHOP'S PALACE. THE ARCHITECTURE AND HISTORY OF THE BIEHL HOUSE CREATE ONE OF GALVESTON'S MOST TREASURED STRUCTURES.