page_title: George Washington Grover House
section_title: Layout and Design
hierarchical_section_title: George Washington Grover House / Construction of the House / Layout and Design
caption_attribution_description: English: The Grover House as seen in an 1871 Bird's Eye drawing.
context_page_description: The George Washington Grover House is a two-story house located at 1520 Market in the East End Historic District of Galveston, Texas. Built in 1859, the house is one of the oldest brick residences in the city.
context_section_description: The house sits on a property covering over three lots between 15th and 16th streets on the north side of Market street inside Galveston's East End Historic District. The brick structure of the house is covered with beige stucco scored to give the visual impression of cut stone. The existing hipped roof was added to the building in 1943. The original roof had a cupola, which was accessible via steps in the house's third story. A 1943 hurricane destroyed two stories on the north (rear) side of the house.
  The three-bay south façade has a double gallery, which is not original to the house. The gallery was altered or expanded three times during the twentieth century. In the current configuration, the galleries are accessible from the interior of both stories via doors on the western ends of the south facade. The first-story door, with an architrave featuring colored glass, pilasters, sidelights, and a transom, serves as the house's primary entrance. The lintels of the windows on the south facade have stucco scored to simulate heavy keystones. The sills, original to the house, are made of white Vermont marble.
  The house is one of the oldest surviving brick residences in Galveston. According to the recollections of Grover's son Walter, the house may have been the second largest dwelling in Galveston (after Ashton Villa) upon its completion. The earliest documented description of the house, published in 1936, provides an overview of the house's interior:
  ceilings of unusual height, bordered with attractive hand-made friezes, and with hand-made center designs built about the ceiling gas fixtures. Throughout the house are hand-cut stained glass panes, and all window and door sills are of marble. The ′mantel and hearth in the great parlor on the ground floor are of black marble, and the fireplace on the second floor is of white marble. The old kitchen at the rear was built over a large underground cistern which supplied water to firemen when fires broke out nearby. Two other cisterns and a cellar are under the house, and one of the cisterns is still being used, supplying the family with cool water during summer months.
caption: The Grover House as seen in an 1871 Bird's Eye drawing.
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