,-" -
In a press release by the Galveston His-
torical Foundation three days after Hur-
ricane Ike, Jones reported that of the ap-
___ proximately 7,000 documented historic
island properties, an estimated 1,500
vl +were seriously damaged. The GHF direc-
tor also remarked that there likely would
h ii "have been a greater toll on the area's his-
:' . toric assets if not for Galveston's iconic
17-foot seawall, constructed shortly after
the island experienced the much more
devastating hurricane of 1900. Although
this barrier may have lessened the impact
of the storm surge, widespread flooding
Still followed. As a result, the interiors
S - -o. f many historic properties experienced
a loss or damage to period furnishings,
S- artifacts, archival materials, and essential
GOP " . a i- -+~ electrical and mechanical systems. The
roofs, windows, and exteriors of many
buildings were also impacted by Ike's
S high winds. According to Brian Davis,
.[ director of preservation services for GHF,
L an estimated 50 to 100 houses were
knocked completely off their founda-
tions by the force of the waves.
Sr Among the more notable losses to the
Island's historic inventory was the Bali-
nese Room, a 1940's-era night club lo-
cated on a pier at 21st Street and Seawall
Boulevard; the pier and building had
is survived numerous hurricanes through-
out the years, but were completely de-
I - molished by Ike. Another, the Flagship
Hotel, the only pier-built hotel in Texas,
eventually had to be torn down because
of heavy structural damage. Constructed
in 1965, after Hurricane Carla, the hotel
had been slated for restoration before Ike
came through the island. One of the most
visible changes to Galveston's landscape
was spread across the entire city. Thou-
sands of trees throughout the 32-mile-
long island were killed as a result of the
flood waters, which contained a toxic
mix of seawater, oil, and chemicals; many
of those were the century-old live oaks
that lined Galveston's historic districts.
The salt-water storm surge also under-
mined the structural integrity of much of
the downtown district's cast-iron archi-
tecture, and these properties were placed
on the National Trust for Historic Pres-
20 TEXASHERITAGE I Volume 4 2011
