This is it — the 1870 building where Galveston County’s Treasurer uncovered a hidden treasure of more than 100 unused old-growth pine and cypress windows dating from about 1900 above a false ceiling in the third-floor loft he’s renovating. The Magale Building at 2311-2315 Strand in Galveston was likely a window and door store and warehouse at one time, the Galveston Historical Foundation’s Matt Farragher told Galveston County Daily News reporter Hayley Kappes. That Strand neighborhood was once the city’s hardware district.
Kevin Walsh bought the loft not long after Hurricane Ike — from someone who’d lived there for 30 years. He found the windows when he ripped out the ceiling late last year.
Walsh, a CPA, also serves on the finance committee of the Galveston Historical Foundation; he’s already donated the windows to the non-profit organization. They’ll eventually go on sale at the foundation’s architectural salvage warehouse on 23rd St.
Comment of the Day: Salvage Army Collections, Door to Door
“It would be great if there was an organization to address this need. I’ve done some drive bys of the listed demos and seen everything from old clothing, furniture, fixtures, windows, cabinets, doors, everything get piled up and thrown into the roll-offs. Historic Houston and Habitat Re-Store seem to let the opportunities come to them rather than seek them out. Is there a way to get the word out to the masses that there is a way to reduce the waste and that salvage is an option?” [mstark, commenting on Demolition Strip Search]