Frederich-Erhard House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Galveston has always had a way of building things to last, and this house on the island is a fine example of that ambition made wood and mortar. William John Frederich, Senior, was a Galveston native and a banker, born in 1852, and in 1894 he had this house built for his family.

A banker's house, so naturally it had to say something. And it does. The style is Queen Anne, raised up in that typical cottage form you see on the island, lifted off the ground like it knows better than to argue with the Gulf.

But what makes you stop and look is the detail. Elaborate work in the porch balustrade. A panelled frieze.

And then up in the gable ends and the brackets, sunburst motifs, carved right into the wood, radiating out like the whole house is trying to greet the morning. Someone took real pride in that work. William John Frederich, Senior, though, would not enjoy it long.

He died in 1898, just four years after the house went up. His widow Jeanne kept the home for a time, and then in 1909 she sold it, not to a stranger, but to her late husband's nephew, Frederich William Erhard. The family name stayed on the house, just shifted a branch.

And the Erhard family held onto it, held tight, all the way until 1972. Nearly the whole of the twentieth century passed under that roof. Sunbursts in the gable ends, a banker's dream built in 1894, and a family that simply refused to let it go.

Some houses earn that kind of loyalty.

What the marker says

Galveston native and banker William John Frederich, Sr. (1852-1898), had this house built for his family in 1894. After his death, his widow Jeanne sold the home to his nephew, Frederich William Erhard, in 1909. The home remained in the Erhard family until 1972. Built in a typical raised cottage form, the Queen Anne house features elaborate detailing in its porch balustrade, panelled frieze, and sunburst motifs in the gable ends and brackets. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990