James Gallier

He was born in Ravensdale, County Louth, Ireland in 1798.[1] There is an off-cited story that he changed his surname from Gallagher to the French-sounding Gallier when he moved to New Orleans in 1834, but according to his autobiography, the name Gallier had been in the family since at least the seventeenth century.[2]

He worked in England during his early career, designing the Godmanchester Chinese Bridge which crosses a mill stream of the River Great Ouse in 1827, and then working on the redevelopment of the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair. He became bankrupt, and emigrated to America[3] in 1832.

He was one of a group of architects who created the idea of Architectural Practice, with the architect working for the clients, and managing those who actually build the structures that have been designed.[4]

His significant works that are National Historic Landmarks include:

• Gallier Hall on St. Charles Avenue (1851), at Lafayette Square in the Central Business District, which was New Orleans' City Hall for nearly a century. It is a National Historic Landmark.
• Pontalba Buildings, with Henry Howard, a National Historic Landmark.
• St. Charles Hotel
• Government Street Presbyterian Church (1836), a National Historic Landmark in Mobile, Alabama.

His other significant works include:

• The Second Christ Church Cathedral on St. Charles Avenue (1837), an Episcopalian Church and later a synagogue. No longer exists.
• Barton Academy (1836) in Mobile, Alabama.
• Belle Helene (1850) in Ascension Parish, Louisiana.
• 824 Canal Street (1844) for surgeon Dr William Newton Mercer, a planter from Mississippi (then called 148 Canal Street). Now The Boston Club

In 1823, while in England, he met and married Elizabeth Tyler. Their only surviving child was James Gallier Jr., who also became an architect. Elizabeth died in July 1844, in her mid-forties.

On 23 June 1850, in Charleston, South Carolina, he married Catherine Maria Robinson of Mobile, Alabama, who was born 18 November 1822, in Hardwick, Massachusetts, to Colonel Joseph Robinson and Ann Maria Ruggles Walton. She was 24 years his junior.

On 3 October 1866, Mr. and Mrs. Gallier were passengers on board the Evening Star, a paddle-wheel steamer en route from New York City to New Orleans, when it sank in a hurricane about 175 miles east of Savannah, Georgia. There were only a half-dozen survivors out of approximately 250 people.[5]