Clayton's Galveston

"In Clayton's Galveston: The Architecture of Nicholas J. Clayton and His Contemporaries, Barrie Scardino and Drexel Turner chronicle Galveston's transformation from a faceless coastal village, the blank canvas Clayton and his contemporaries used to create their masterpieces, into the unique Galveston of today.". "Clayton and others such as Nathaniel Tobey, Jr., Edward J. Duhamel, and Alfred Muller had ample opportunity to leave their mark on a city growing at a fevered pace. Waves of growth and destruction caused by immigration and the fires of 1877 and 1885 made innovation essential as well as inevitable. Clayton himself designed more than 150 of the buildings constructed from 1870 to 1900, including civic buildings, commercial projects for the Strand district, and special contracts for Galveston's elite, especially the palatial homes he built along East Broadway. The works closest to his heart, those awarded him by the Catholic Church, showcase his self-assured "free eclecticism" and his interpretation of contemporary French and British styles."--BOOK JACKET.