Every legendary house harbors a few urban legends. The 1892 Bishop’s Palace in Galveston, Texas – aka the Walter and Josephine Gresham House – is widely celebrated as one of the finest Victorian residences in the United States. Yet behind its walls of limestone, granite, and sandstone lies a collection of stubborn myths that have circulated through tour groups and newspaper clippings for over a century.
Did a secret tunnel really link the basement to the church next door? Did its famous fireplaces take top honors at international expositions? We dug into the archives to set the record straight on six of the most enduring Bishop’s Palace myths.
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Myth vs. Reality: Bishop’s Palace Edition
When a home looks like a 19th-century castle on the Texas coast, it’s bound to collect a few tall tales. Over the past 130 years, old news clippings and tour lore have blurred the line between fact and legend at Bishop’s Palace.
To get the real story, we connected with the historical team at Galveston Historical Foundation on what history actually got right – and wrong – about this Texas landmark.
Myth #1: Builders constructed a tunnel connecting the basement to Sacred Heart Church so the bishop could walk there without getting rained on.
Reality: The home was commissioned and constructed between 1888 and 1892 as a private residence for attorney and railroad entrepreneur Walter Gresham, Josephine Gresham, and their children – not the Catholic clergy. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston did not acquire the estate until 1923, when Bishop Christopher E. Byrne took up residence, giving the home its lasting nickname.
Furthermore, the current Sacred Heart Church across 14th Street did not exist when the house was completed. The original 1892 church building was destroyed during the 1900 Galveston hurricane, and the present church was constructed between 1904 and 1910. No subterranean tunnel has ever connected the two properties.
Myth #2: The house rode out the 1900 Storm completely unscathed, and the Greshams turned away refugees.
Reality: Walter Gresham was so outraged by a post-storm report alleging he turned refugees away that he immediately published a fiery rebuttal in the local press, announcing that his family sheltered more than 100 people during the catastrophic hurricane.
As for escaping damage, a personal letter written by the Greshams’ cook describes how almost every window in the house was broken by the storm, and how the wood floors on the first level had buckled due to water from the storm surge. The cook wrote that the flooring had to be pried up to dry, and all the replacement glass was purchased but remained stacked in the basement while the family waited for available local labor to complete repairs.
Myth #3: The main parlor’s carved mahogany mantel won first prize at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.
Reality: The Renaissance Revival fireplace surround in the main parlor was designed by the home’s architect, Nicholas J. Clayton, well after 1876. Clayton’s original drawing for the fireplace is preserved in the Galveston County Museum collection with a note indicating it should be sent to Josephine Gresham in Paris for approval – proving it was commissioned for the house rather than acquired from the Philadelphia world’s fair.
Myth #4: Walter Gresham purchased the music room’s silver-and-onyx mantel for $10K after it won a prize at the 1886 New Orleans world’s fair.
Reality: This claim stems from an erroneous 1937 report printed in a local newspaper. To start, New Orleans did not host a world’s fair in 1886; the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition ran in New Orleans from December 1884 through May 1885. There is no record of this silver-and-onyx mantel being exhibited or acquired there. The same 1937 news piece also mistakenly reported that Clayton began constructing the Gresham House in 1880, underscoring the article’s unreliability.
Myth #5: The American Institute of Architects ranked the home among the Top 100 Most Significant Buildings in the United States.
Reality: The Gresham House was highlighted in the publication “One Hundred Years of Architecture in America, 1857 – 1957: Celebrating the Centennial of the American Institute of Architects.” However, this book showcased 75 buildings representing a century of design; the AIA has never compiled an official Top 100 list.
When the organization later celebrated its 150th anniversary with a top-150 poll of “America’s Favorite Architecture,” Bishop’s Palace didn’t make the cut – though the Texas State Capitol did.
Myth #6: In 1956, Bishop’s Palace was the only Texas structure named among the nation’s 100 most outstanding buildings.
Reality: For its centennial celebration in 1956, the AIA assembled a panel of 50 architects to nominate significant buildings constructed over the preceding century. Architectural Record published these selections across several issues between June 1956 and April 1957, categorized by building types. While 14 residences were honored across the country – including three in the category of “Houses Built Before 1907” – the Gresham House was not among them.
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