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Even in Savannah where architectural gems endure for many decades, the final restoration of a revered structure often follows years of neglect, abuse, and multiple owners and uses. Any research into the changes made in a piece of property can reveal startling modifications often thoroughly masking the orginial structure.
Such is not the case with �The Gingerbread House� on Bull Street. This elegant home has been held by no more than three owners since it was built by Cord Asendorf in 1899. It stayed in the family until 1976 and has now been in the Galloway family for nearly three decades.
This is about to change, with the Galloways� decision to retire to Virginia. In the years during which they have held �The Gingerbread House,� they have carefully and affectionately cherished, maintained, and restored the details of this distinctive architectural piece, even in a city of unusual expressions of building styles.
The house remained an Asendorf asset for almost 80 years and was sold to a family named Gomes by the builder�s daughter, Miss Sophie Asendorf, in 1976. The length of the second ownership hardly counts as significant, since it lasted only about fourteen months.
When Herbert Galloway bought the Asendorf home in 1978, he discovered that the interim owners had kept it just long enough to remove the furniture and most of the built-in fixtures from the house. �I�m sure the furniture was wonderful,� Herb explained, �perhaps worn from the years of use, but the pieces would have been significant indications of the styles the Asendorfs liked. Knowing what they had in the house would have helped when I started working on it.�
The condition of the house in 1978 could easily have been one of major disrepair, but that was not the case with the Asendorf house, Herb revealed.
�It was amazing how sound the building was,� he continued. �The support beams, the floors, and everything that contributes to the structure itself were completely intact. Almost everything that needed work was cosmetic.�
These cosmetic needs were, however, extensive throughout the house. According to Herb, the walls had originally all been papered with what he considered a not-very-attractive pattern of gold fleur-de-lis over a black background. The floors had all been carpetted in dark brown, a combination of colors not seeming to Herb to be very complementary.
�At some time, all of the walls were painted pink,� Herb said, �and, when I bought the house, all of that had begun to peel. In fact, the weight of the paint on the ceiling, along with the loss of adhesion of the paper, caused big strips to hang down far enough that I could touch them. Of course, with these twelve-foot ceilings, pulling the painted paper down was easier than it could have been. �The one thing that was such a relief was that the woodwork had not been painted. It was all still the original natural, beautiful trim around the windows and doors. The faux work done on the pine has been meticously refreshed to look the way the Asendorf�s had it done in the parlor and dining room. That is a very elegant touch.�
While the interim owners did remove most of the ceiling fixtures, their leaving one allowed Herb to see what the Asendorfs had installed in the house.
�The light fixtures in the house included both gas and electricity. The gas globe was directed upward for the flame, and the electric part pointed downward. This was that interim between the development of electric lights and the phasing out of gas illumination, when no one would say which was going to win. We have been able to get authentic reproductions when we couldn�t get �the real thing.� The gaslight fixtures at the top and bottom of the stairs came from an Ohio barber shop.� During discussions of what was involved in restoring the house, Herb revealed that it might have been too much to undertake if the house had not been as structurally sound as it was.
�This house is a structural masterpiece,� Herb said. �All of the floors and support joists are heart pine. Even the detailwork on the front porch is heart pine, and none of it has needed to be replaced.�
Such houses as this one, with great quantities of elaborate trim, rarely endure through many decades when the delicate work must be maintained or repaired. Replacing it can often require greater funds than the original work cost, and Savannah is indeed fortunate to have had this building so well built and preserved.
How The Gingerbread House came to be built is itself an interesting tale. It is the combination of new technology of the time and the particular orientations of its owner. When Cord Asendorf decided how his house would look, his German origins contributed to both his preferences and the knowledge of what could be done.

A Bit of History
The invention of the scroll saw brought a major change in the kinds of work that carpenters could perform on wood trim. Its capabilities allowed carpenters to create the delicate bargeboard trim called �gingerbread,� which hangs from gable ends and around the porches of these houses. Pointed windows with tracery are common in this style. Though vertical board-and-batten siding was not used in the Asendorf house, it is often used in �Carpenter Gothic� plans because it lifts the eye to the detailed trim.
As noted in a brochure produced by the Galloways, the use of the term �gingerbread� to describe the ornamentation on this style of architecture seems to have been derived from the French word �gingembraz,� which is a sweet cake with fancy white icing.
The evolution of the scroll saw is linked to the rise in popularity of fretwork (the sawing of intricate shapes from wood). Although there are examples of fretwork-like decorations on early Egyptian, Greek, and Roman furniture, these were probably carved or cut with a knife. It wasn't possible to saw delicate wooden shapes until the late 1500's, when a German craftsman (possibly a clock maker) devised a method for making fine, narrow blades.
Soon thereafter, a Parisian named Boulle began to develop specialized hand tools for cutting these intricate designs. He designed a U-shaped fret saw, originally known as a Buhl-saw (a corrupted pronunciation of the man's name). As Mr. Boulle's work gained notoriety, the craft was legitimized and quickly spread to Italy within a generation.
Fretwork was introduced to America in the mid-1800's as �Sorrento wood carving,� so named because of the area in Italy where it was most popular. By the 1860's, the first mechanical fret saws � called scroll saws � began to appear in the U. S. And so this great art form was born. (Website: www.woodcraftplans.com)
Carpenter Gothic is also called Steamboat Gothic because of its prolific use on riverboats. Accompanying the detailed rich woodwork of this style, glittering crystal chandeliers and the soft glow of stained glass transoms complete the lush Victorian ambiance of lavishly appointed steamboats.

The Asendorf Masterpiece
Because ornate woodwork has long been identified with German craftsmanship, it is easy to understand why Cord Asendorf might have decided to build his house using so much decorative wood trim. He was only fourteen years old when he came to Savannah from Osterholtz, Germany, in 1872. He had been working with his father building cigar boxes, and he decided to come to America. He arrived in Savannah on September 20 and found employment and lodging with his uncle John M. Asendorf, who owned a grocery store on the corner of Jones and Habersham streets.
Shortly after his twenty-first birthday, Cord Asendorf became a U. S. citizen. Just two years later, he opened his own grocery store on Tattnall Street and soon became recognized for his success in the business. He sold that store to his brother, Fred Asendorf, and moved to East Broad and Liberty Streets, where he opened another grocery store.
His purchase of that property was the beginning of considerable property dealings in his lifetime. Many of his acquisitions were through auctions for back taxes, and he was able to accumulate enough property to retire from the grocery business at the age of forty to manage his properties. He also owned a bar and was a member of the German Volunteers. (Another German Volunteer, Captain John Derst, was one of Cord�s friends.)
On February 20, 1890, Cord Asendorf and Bernadine Hagen were married at the Lutheran Church. She was also a German immigrant and had established herself as being accomplished and popular and highly esteemed in German social circles. She and Cord had ten children, two of whom died in infancy. In 1898, Cord purchased the land on Bull Street on which the house would be built. At the time, Estill Ward was considered little more than a wilderness, but when the Asendorfs� house began to take shape, the people of Savannah quickly realized this was like none other in town. Many Carpenter Gothic cottages were built with pattern-book models, but it is not known whether the builder, Hawley Construction Company, used patterns. It is presumed that Cord made it clear what kinds of designs he wanted and Hawley created the designs using precision tools that were becoming more readily available at the time.
Just as his house on Bull Street attracted the attention of residents and visitors, providing visual pleasure in its details and workmanship, so did the Asendorf family contribute much to Savannah�s enduring essence of friendliness and resourcefulness. Accounts of their participation in family and community activities attest to their involvement in Savannah�s cultural, economic, and architectural heritage.
The pride which the Asendorf family had in their home on Bull Street might have been indicated by their long residence there. The youngest, Sophie Asendorf, never married and stayed in the house until 1976. Her sister Meta came to live with her after Meta�s husband died, and the two also brought boarders into the house, which was most likely too large for their needs. When they sold the house to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Gomes, they moved only about a mile away, where they lived until Sophie died and Meta moved into a nursing home.
�As we made changes and ultimately evolved to use the house for events, we included the sisters in everything we thought they would find interesting,� Herb explained. �Meta lived until just last September, and we made sure that she and Sophie knew how much we loved the house, too.�

In His Own Words
Herb describes best how his feelings for the Asendorf house developed over the years: When I bought the house in 1978, I could not really say why I did it. I just don�t know why. I was working at Emory University at the time and didn�t actually come to live in Savannah until a couple of years later, when my program at Emory was cancelled.
I was on a lecturing assignment at Colorado State when I met Jan. I had already bought the house and was living here in Savannah when we got married.
Jan and I got married in front of the fireplace, just like the Asendorfs did. It was a real tradition, over the years, for any family wedding to take place in the parlor. A great-granddaughter came down from Charlotte to be married here, in front of the fireplace. Meta�s daughter lives here in Savannah, but everyone else has left the area.
It seems that some dividing of the house had taken place and a small kitchen had been installed, with linoleum over the wood. We did have to replace the flooring boards there, because of moisture, but when we took out the flooring, we saw that the support joists were not in the least affected. We decided to make that area into the men�s and women�s restrooms.
I was also a circuit-rider speech therapist in north Georgia, and I found the pink marble in Tate to replace that flooring. It�s almost impossible to get that marble now, so it has become as much a part of the preservation of the house as anything else.
We opened the conservatory in 2000. We had been turning down three calls a week from people who needed more space than we had. The conservatory is built on the original courtyard space, and we relocated the courtyard to the area behind the two adjoining pieces, where we have the bridal shop in one and an additional kitchen with upstairs rental property in the other.
We asked Lee Meyer to design the conservatory, and Carolyn Howard of Atlanta did the interior design and decorating. I was playing the piano at the Chatham Club and saw her work there. I knew I wanted her to do the conservatory at the Asendorf House for us.
Lisa (the Galloways� daughter) became part of the operation after she graduated from The University of Georgia. We sent her to Paris for cooking school, and she became our chef.
This house and how we have used it over the years have convinced us of the power of a beautiful design and structure. It has been a privilege to own it and to be a part of preserving it. We have plans now for different directions we want to take, but the essence of the Asendorf Gingerbread House will always be with us.

The Promise of the Future
As a tribute to their own contribution to the house, it must be stressed here how Herb and Jan have preserved it, restored it, and improved it through their work, much of which they did themselves. Their decisions along the way ensure the lasting value of its historical integrity.
A significant piece of architecture such as the Asendorf Gingerbread House is made even more amazing by how well the style of the conservatory matches the house. Too often, additions to old buildings cannot blend completely, even when the attempt is made. Careful scrutiny of both the outside and inside of the property reveal that changes and additions match beautifully. The process of replicating the quality of workmanship and materials depends on knowing what the work must entail and finding artisans who can perform the work.
While the Galloways pave their new path in Virginia, Savannah will continue to look at The Gingerbread House as one of its most popular buildings for its residents, visitors, and tourists.

Ginger Miles can be reached at (912) 652-0209 or by email at ginger.miles @savannahnow.com. The writer thanks Herb and Jan Galloway for their generous contribution of information about the house. While Ron Horton was a student at Armstrong State College, he wrote a biography of Cord Asendorf for Dr. Roger K. Warlick�s Historical Methods course. Submitted during the Winter 1982 term, it is housed at the university�s Lane Library. The writer thanks Mr. Horton for information provided in his work, compiled from Deed Records, City Directories, the Savannah Morning News, and Cord Asendorf�s personal diary.