GOD & TEXAS: Josephine

On the outside walls of Josephine’s Victorian-style home there were fierce bronze dragons, carved animals, and hideous gargoyles resembling those on the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The passerby saw a beautiful and imposing three-story dwelling with four turrets on the roofline topped by hand crafted imported tiles.

On the inside, many of the rooms featured Josephine’s original artwork of delightful angels. Much like Italian artist Michelangelo did for the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, Josephine lay on her back on a scaffold and painted the domed ceiling of her dining room with angels wearing the faces of her nine children. Those portraits remain in place today over 100 years later.

Josephine Carey Mann was born in 1846 into an affluent family on San José Island, Aransas County, near Corpus Christi. Her aristocratic bloodline included ancestors who fought in the American Revolution. In 1868, Josephine married Walter Gresham, a wealthy railroad executive and member of the Texas Legislature. They settled in Galveston.

In 1887, they commissioned acclaimed architect Nicholas Clayton to design and build a comfortable but safe home for their growing family. The result of the five-year construction project was an opulent mansion that provided over 19,000 square feet of living space in three stories and a finished basement. The stone and steel home included a massive staircase and numerous fireplaces that captured the golden age of Galveston society.

When the great hurricane hit in 1900, the Greshams welcomed victims into their home as a refuge. The home was among few that withstood the storm and is lovingly remembered today as a sanctuary of kindness. Following the disaster, Walter was an influential advocate for building the seawall and raising the island’s grade.  

After Walter died in 1920, Josephine sold the home to the Catholic Diocese and lived out her days with family in Washington D.C. The new occupant was Bishop Christopher Byrne and is known today as the Bishop’s Palace. Presently, the residence is owned and operated by the Galveston Historical Foundation and was listed in the National Registry of Historic Places in 1970. 

Hundreds of people visit the Bishop’s Palace each year and remain amazed at the luxury and grandeur of this remarkable home. But it is more than just a pretty building. The Palace was built on a firm foundation of iron, limestone, and granite, with a steel superstructure that does not budge when the contrary winds blow. 

The Bishop’s Palace resembles the home built in Matthew 7:24-25 ESV, “The wise man built his house on the rock. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it was founded on the rock.”

The natural home needs a good foundation, but so does the life we are constructing. The wise man builds his life on the Rock Christ Jesus, who does not fail in times of adversity (1 Corinthians 10:4). Build wisely. 

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