Hutchings, Sealy & Company Building — Attraction in Galveston

One of the most haunted buildings in Galveston, or at least as much as I've read. This where the ghost of a schoolteacher who heroically pulled victims from the floodwaters during the great hurricane of 1900 roams the Strand. I didn't see it.

The State marker here reads, "Four decades after joining in partnership, George Ball, John Henry Hutchings, and John Sealy employed prominent Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton to design office buildings for their Ball, Hutchings & Co. commission and banking operations. Built in 1895 as two individual but connected structures, these buildings complemented Galveston's Strand Avenue, known at the time as the "Wall Street of the Southwest."

"The buildings' Renaissance revival style is represented by the heavily rusticated stone arches featured on its entryways, terra cotta detailing on the parapets and entablatures, evenly spaced columns and pilasters, elaborate stone cornice, and arcading windows. The foundation walls are six feet wide at the base and made of pressed brick with ashlar patterned sandstone facing.

"The corner building, which features the name "Hutchings" on its entablature, was originally constructed for John H. Hutchings. The adjoining office building, featuring the name "Sealy" on its entablature, was built for John Sealy. These majestic buildings are reminders of a grand era in Galveston's history and the philanthropic legacy of these early businessmen."

There is a second...

This impressive building contains grey and pink granite, red Texas sandstone, and buff colored terra cotta. Designed in the Neo-Renaissance style by Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton, it was built in 1895 for the banking firm of Ball, Hutchings & Co.

Although the three-story building appears to be a single structure, it actually consists of two adjoining structures made to look like one. The corner structure housed the bank and the easterly building the offices. The two buildings are crowned by an elaborate stone cornice with the Lone Star medallion on panels of the entablature and with the dates 1854 and 1895 in the stonework.

Ball, Hutchings & Co. was established in 1854 with George Ball, John H. Hutchings, and John Sealy as partners. As bankers and dealers in wholesale dry goods, the firm was the first of its kind in Texas and its influence was felt throughout the state. In 1858, the assets and liabilities of the Samuel May Williams’ Commercial and Agricultural Bank, the only chartered bank in Texas prior to the Civil War, were taken over by Ball,...

This is one of the most haunted buildings in Galveston! It has a beautiful story about Sara the school teacher. And the House of Goth fits in perfectly! Go check out the beautiful architecture, the amazing people, and the...