Greenleve, Block & Co. Building
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This building, designed by Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton, was completed in 1882 for the wholesale dry goods firm of Greenleve, Block & Co., and is indicative of the elaborate commercial buildings designed by Clayton during the late 19th century. A series of dry goods firms operated at the site until 1919. In that year, Flood and Calvert ship chandlers first occupied the building, and continued to do so until 1967. Originally topped with a prominent cornice and fourth floor, the brick and carved stone building features a central three-part bay flanked by pavilions, and elaborate first-floor cast iron columns. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1964
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Completed in 1882 for the wholesale dry-goods firm of Greenleve, Block & Co., this building was the work of Galveston's celebrated architect Nicholas J. Clayton. Its brick and carved-stone façade, cast-iron columns, and flanking pavilions typify the elaborate commercial architecture of the booming Gilded Age port. Dry-goods firms and later ship chandlers occupied it for nearly a century.
Why it matters
It stands as a showcase of Nicholas Clayton's craftsmanship and of Galveston's late-19th-century reign as the great commercial port of Texas.
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Related people
- · Nicholas J. Clayton
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Nicholas J. Clayton
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Born in Ireland and raised by his widowed mother in Ohio, Nicholas Joseph Clayton served in the Union navy during the Civil War before finding his life's calling in Galveston. Sent there in 1872 to oversee two building projects, he stayed to become the city's defining architect during its golden era, designing churches, homes, and commercial landmarks across Texas and the South. His surviving works include the Bishop's Palace, "Old Red" at the medical college, and St. Mary's Cathedral in Austin.
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