The Wynne Home Arts & Visitor Center in Huntsville will celebrate its 20th Anniversary on October 2, 2026 from 4-7pm, in a come-and-go event with remarks at 6pm. The public is invited to celebrate, and light food and refreshments will be served.
In September 2006, Linda Pease, the city’s Cultural Services Coordinator at the time, finally saw a vision reified: scores of residents and tourists walking through the doors of The Wynne Home to enjoy the arts.
And 20 years later, the facility remains an important cultural institution in Huntsville, hosting art exhibitions, classes, field trips, workshops, community programs, and tours, while also serving as the gateway to the Huntsville Cultural District.
Its stated mission is straightforward: “to promote and share the arts and our community heritage.” But the history of The Wynne Home began long before anyone imagined an art gallery inside it.
The story begins in 1882, when Sandford and Sallie Gibbs gave property on 11th Street to their niece, Samuella Gibbs, and her new husband, Gustavus Adair Wynne, as a wedding gift. Their home was originally designed in Queen Anne style, with an asymmetrical form, a steep-pitched roof, and intricate detailing. By the mid 1910s, however, the Wynne family opted to renovate the exterior, giving the home Classical Revival elements.
Generations of Wynnes called it home. The couple’s son, Gibbs Adair Wynne, and his wife, Lela Mae Brown Wynne, also lived there, raising daughters Ruth and Samuella in the house. Lela Mae, an accomplished pianist, passed along an appreciation for music and art to her daughters—an appropriate legacy given the home’s eventual use.
Pease remembers visiting Ruth while she still lived there. They worked on some community history together, and Pease received a tour of the home. What Pease could not have known during that visit was that she would one day help oversee the transformation of the private residence into a community institution.
The Wynne sisters—Samuella Wynne Palmer and Ruth Wynne Hollinshead—inherited the home in 1984 from their mother, Lela Mae Brown Wynne, and contemplated ways to manage the home. By the late 1990s, they began discussions to give the home to the City of Huntsville, an act of generosity that culminated on December 30, 1998. The home was donated with a specific purpose in mind: the property was to be used for cultural activities, particularly the arts and historic preservation.
Receiving a historic home, however, and managing the property are two different things.
City representatives traveled to Dallas to consult with the Meadows Foundation. Consultants solicited public input, and in January 2000, the Huntsville City Council assigned the Huntsville Arts Commission (then chaired by Ila Gaines) responsibility for developing a community vision for the property.
Pease handled the formidable task of managing the restoration, forming committees, working with architects (who followed the Department of Interior’s guidelines for adaptive reuse), and raising funds, with much help from grants.
Not everyone was enthusiastic. Some residents objected to the City’s acceptance of the historic home—particularly because its restoration was among several then-recent projects financed through debt.
In response, city officials settled on another financing approach, and the project marched forward. The Meadows Foundation offered a matching grant near the end of the fundraising campaign, helping push the effort toward its goal.
Then came another problem: the contractor handling the project went out of business. A second contractor was selected in January 2006, and according to Pease, things finally began to “sail right through.”
The process had taken years and involved scores of residents. Gene Pipes, city manager at the time, formally agreed to accept the home. Mary Frances Park chaired the management committee and became one of the project’s most determined advocates. Una Grace Nash helped found the Friends of the Wynne and served as chair. Roberta Plant chaired publicity and marketing; Patty Davis chaired programming; Bill Nash headed the architectural committee; and Ralph Lawson, Dan Davis, and Don Kramer served as finance chairs.
Mac Woodward, a city council member from 2003-2011 and Mayor from 2011-2015, supported the Home, even in the face of sometimes stiff opposition on Council. “I was proud to support the city’s vision and commitment to preserve and restore The Wynne Home,” he recalled recently. “I agreed with the goal of providing a place to celebrate the history, arts, and culture in our community.”
Palmer, meanwhile, remained involved with the project and lived long enough to see her family home begin its new life.
By summer of 2006, Pease and others were working inside The Wynne Home, preparing exhibits, arranging (and obtaining) furniture, and getting ready for visitors. The Friends of the Wynne held a soft launch for their organization in July, announcing they had assembled a board of nine directors and 46 dues-paying members.
On September 23, 2006, the doors officially opened. The inaugural exhibition offered an indication of the ambitions for the new center. Stephanie Smither, who had helped guide development of the gallery, provided works from the collection she assembled with her late husband, John. The collection featured Texas artists and works ranging from sculpture to drawings.
Over the years, The Wynne Home exhibited the works of nationally and internationally recognized artists such as Jesus Moroles, Richard Haas, Charles Pebworth, Stanley Lea, and James Surls. These artists now have works in the Home’s permanent collection.
But art exhibits are only one part of The Wynne Home’s identity. Classes, workshops, children’s activities, school field trips, community meetings, receptions, and other programs were launched. By 2014, Pease estimated more than 300 classes had already been offered; special events such as film festivals, public talks, and book signings are also hosted at The Wynne Home; and since 2008 or so, the property has held annual events such as a community Easter Egg Hunt and the Empty Bowls fundraiser, which raises money for Meals on Wheels of Walker County.
That combination of art, education, and community involvement has characterized The Wynne Home for two decades. Today its programming continues to include exhibitions, art classes, outreach programs, field trips, and docent-led tours, often in partnership with other community organizations. Admission remains free.
The property itself has continued to evolve as well. A memorial rose garden, developed with the Huntsville Garden Club and containing more than 40 donated rose bushes, added another dimension to the grounds. The Texas Thyme Unit, the local chapter of The Herb Society of America, crafted a beautiful herb garden with statuary, and they later crafted a children’s play area—replete with a mix of herbs that children can touch and smell.
In 2007, The Wynne Home became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, and in 2009, it became part of the state-designated Huntsville Cultural District—formally connecting it to downtown, Sam Houston State University, museums, other historic homes, public art, and diverse cultural attractions.
Twenty years after its opening, The Wynne Home “has far exceeded everyone’s expectations,” notes Mac Woodward. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about The Wynne Home is that it remains true to both parts of its history.
It is an arts center, but it still feels like a home. Visitors encounter exhibitions where a family once entertained guests. Children learn art in rooms built for another generation of Huntsville children. Meetings, receptions, classes, and conversations fill a house whose history now stretches across the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
Over that span, the Home was guided by those who believed that art and architecture are more than community adornments. Cultural assets and a shared history bring people together, strengthen a community’s identity, and create common experiences. The influence of the past, noted T.S. Eliot, “is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.”
For more than a century, The Wynne Home belonged to one Huntsville family. And for the last 20 years—owing to the vision of a few, the work of many, and the support of a community—the Home has belonged, in a different sense, to all of Huntsville.
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Fulfilling The Wynne Home mission—to promote and share the arts and community heritage—requires a continuation of effort.
Today, many Huntsville residents, volunteers, Friends of the Wynne members, City employees, artists, and others work to this end.
For Victoria Cardenas (née McClendon-Leggett), the connection stretches back to the beginning. Her first professional job was as an intern at The Wynne Home. Today, she serves as President of the Friends of the Wynne, helping support the same institution where she began her career.
To Cardenas, the Home’s importance extends beyond its history and architecture. It is one of the community’s increasingly rare “third spaces”—a place outside home and work where people can gather and spend time together.
It has worked as a “third space” for Victoria. Fittingly, she is the third President, following in the footsteps of Nash and Nancy Gaertner—the latter being the longest-serving President of the organization. She also serves alongside fellow board member Linda Pease—her former internship supervisor!
Angela Robinson, The Wynne Home’s Event Coordinator, experiences its history from a different perspective—by working within it.
“I get to work inside a piece of Huntsville’s history every day,” Robinson says. “There’s something pretty special about walking through these rooms and knowing this building has been here for 75 percent of Huntsville’s history.”
To continue the Wynne Home’s mission, both Cardenas and Robinson encourage the community to get involved in the home’s many activities, classes, and events. Volunteers are always needed, and donations are always appreciated.
For more information on The Wynne Home, or to discuss volunteer opportunities, contact Angela Robinson at 936-291-5424.
