Wynne Home Keeps Huntsville's Arts Close to Downtown

The Wynne Home began with a wedding gift. Sanford and Sallie Gibbs deeded land to their niece Samuella Gibbs and her husband, Gustavus Adair Wynne, in 1882. The couple moved into a honeymoon cottage there in 1883. As their family grew, the cottage grew too. An 1899 photograph shows a stylish Queen Anne house; a major 1916-1917 remodeling gave it the two-story Classical Revival portico seen today.

Three generations lived at 1428 11th Street before Samuella W. Palmer and her sister, Ruth W. Hollinshead, gave the house to Huntsville on December 30, 1998. Their instructions joined two purposes that fit the building: encourage the arts and preserve the historic home. The city opened the restored Wynne Home Arts & Visitor Center to the public in 2006.

The house now sits two blocks from downtown with exhibitions, art classes, school field trips, heritage programs, and tours moving through its rooms. Its layered architecture tells one family story from the street; inside, an old Huntsville home is still making room for new work.