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Building gets landmark status
By City of Galveston
Contributor
Published November 8, 2009
GALVESTON — The Galveston City Council recently approved an ordinance granting the building at 2202 Mechanic St. landmark status. The building predates the 1900 Storm and is 133 years old.
The 1876 J. Reymershoffer Building was built during Galveston’s architectural boom as a three-and-a-half story French style building with a gabled roof.
This was a time when the modest wooden structures that lined The Strand area were replaced with grand buildings afforded by the economic boom after the Civil War.
The third floor of the Reymershoffer Building served as Castle Hall, or Society Hall, the gathering place for the Knights of Pythias, a secret fraternal organization.
The building later was home to the Italian consulate of the Galveston-Houston area for many years and was legally considered Italian soil.
Not only did many Italian immigrants rely on the office for citizenship information, some couples insisted on getting married on “Italian soil” while remaining on the island.
After being severely damaged by Hurricane Carla in 1961, the building was sold by the Reymershoffer family and extensively renovated. Many of the distinctive features were removed.
Current owners, Adrienne and Michael Culpepper, have moved their nautical antique business to the building’s first floor. They plan to renovate the structure.
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