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Bishop's Palace
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
The Bishop's Palace in Galveston
Location	1402 Broadway Galveston, Texas, USA
Coordinates	29°18′11″N 94°46′56″W
Built	1887 to 1893
Architect	Nicholas J. Clayton
NRHP reference No.	70000746
RTHL No.	139
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	August 25, 1970
Designated RTHL	1967

The Bishop's Palace, also known as Gresham's Castle, is an ornate 19,082 square feet (1,772.8 m²) Victorian-style house, located on Broadway and 14th Street in the East End Historic District of Galveston, Texas.

History

Bishop's Residence Galveston TX, (postcard c. 1900)

The Gresham mansion was made all of stone, and was sturdy enough to withstand the great hurricane of 1900. The Greshams welcomed hundreds of survivors of the hurricane into their home.

The house was built between 1887 and 1893 by Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton for lawyer and politician Walter Gresham, his wife Josephine, and their nine children. In 1923 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston purchased the house, and, situated across the street from the Sacred Heart Church, it served as the residence for Bishop Christopher E. Byrne. After the diocesan offices were moved to Houston, the diocese opened the mansion to the public in 1963, with proceeds from tours being used to help fund the Newman Center, operating in the basement, serving Catholic students at the nearby University of Texas Medical Branch.

The home is estimated to have cost $250,000 at the time [1]; today its value is estimated at over $5.5 million.

The house is owned by the Galveston Historical Foundation and self-guided tours are available daily. A portion of each admission supports the preservation and restoration of the property.

The master work of Nicholas J. Clayton, prominent architect of the late-nineteenth century, The Bishop’s Palace is considered the finest house in Galveston. Designed in the formal and somewhat somber Chateauesque style of architecture popularized by Richard Morris Hunt and typically reserved for grand urban estates, this example broke convention. The house is nestled on a narrow lot while the design exhibits the exuberance of contrasting colors and wide variety of textures. The owner, Walter Gresham, was a prominent attorney, industrialist and Congressman who removed several houses to build Galveston’s most visible and glamorous residence on the most prominent street corner in the city.

Soon after completion of the house in 1892, the city suffered catastrophe during the devastating 1900 Storm; the storm surge was eventually stopped by a mound of debris just a block east of this property.

In the 1920s the Catholic Diocese purchased the house to serve as the bishop’s residence, thus was coined the popular moniker. Since the 1950s, the house has been open to the public as a museum, the city’s most popular, administered first by the diocese and in recent years by the Galveston Historical Foundation by way of lease agreement. http://jkoa.net/portfolio/historic-house-museums/bishops-palace

Mansion

Architecture

Gresham commissioned prominent Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton in 1887, the same year he was elected to the Texas Legislature, to design a grand mansion. Clayton designed the house in the Châteauesque style, with their steeply pitched roofs, turrets and sculptural ornamentation, that was popularized in the latter part of the 19th century by Richard Morris Hunt. However, Clayton used a combination of simple geometric forms in bold massing, and using varicolored and irregularly shaped stone, to create additional dramatic effect. Clayton sited the home to face south towards the Gulf of Mexico, on a city lot he deemed too small for such a grand house on the corner of Broadway Avenue and 14th Street. The small lot and over-sized house make it an anomaly among similar houses of its period and architectural style, as they were usually rural estates. The steel framed mansion is built on a partially raised basement followed by three formal floors, and is encased in 23-inch thick rusticated white limestone walls, trimmed in blue granite from North Texas and red sandstone. The main block of the house has a high pitched hip roof of glazed tiles, with a short ridge parallel to the front facade, but with numerous towers, dormers and gables each separately roofed it creates a picturesque and irregular roof line along with the five highly ornamented and sculptural chimneys. The main elevation has a central entrance, but is asymmetrically balanced with flanking four-story round and polygonal bays creating an irregular front facade. Set back from the main block of the house are gabled ells on both sides. On the east side of the house, there is a one-story apse-shaped glassed-in conservatory, and a two-story wing on the north end of the mansion.

The wooden, double door entrance is framed by an ornate Romanesque arch, supported by polished stone columns, and crowned with a carved medallion at its apex. The entrance is approached by a grand flight of 18 stone steps leading up to a one-story veranda. The veranda features slender columns and lacy brackets of cast iron, that wraps around the southeast corner of the house. The cast iron balustrade at the main level is repeated to form a balcony railing at the second level. A matching small bracketed cast iron balcony forms a canopy over the central second story door. Another non-connecting veranda is found on the southwest corner of the house as well. The two main stories have double hung sash windows, with each having a single pane transom, with carved lintels, that vary in treatment, some decorated and some opaque. The third-story windows are varied with those on the polygonal tower and the central dormer showcasing depressed Tudor arches, while those on the round tower are treated as a Romanesque arcade.

Interior

First Floor

The layout of the mansion features a center-hall floorplan, with the first floor rooms having 14 feet (4.3 m) ceilings. The house is paneled throughout in hand-carved, heavily ornamented mahogany, black walnut, rosewood, oak, satinwood and maple, and decorative plaster ceilings. The mahogany paneled entrance hall features a passageway, with a pair of flanking Sienna marble columns with carved wooden Corinthian capitals, that support a coffered barrel vaulted ceiling, leading to the stair hall. The octagonal mahogany stair hall is 40 feet (12 m) tall with stained glass on five sides. The hall is lit by a large octagonal skylight at the center of a grand rotunda. The ornate staircase curves its way up the stair hall and is anchored by an oriel balcony at the top of the first rise that is over a fireplace tucked under the staircase and on axis with the entrance. The hall's inlaid parquet wood flooring is trimmed in a Greek key design.

To the left of the entrance hall is the parlor with a massive fireplace made of Santo Domingo mahogany and large sliding doors, connecting it to the music room, with wood surfaces that matches the room it faces. Occupying the western ell of the first floor, the music room showcases a fireplace made from onyx and silver that won a prize for artistic merit at the 1886 International Exposition before it was shipped to Galveston. Mirroring the left side of the first floor, to the right of the entrance hall is the library, with attached semi-circular nook, and the dining room. The library is enhanced with an Italian marble fireplace, Venetian crystal chandelier and a bucolic landscape mural above the bookshelves that surround the room. The richly ornamented paneled dining room, has carved pilasters that surround the room and support a coved cornice that frames a fresco of cherubs that were painted on the ceiling by Josephine Gresham. Accessed by french doors flanking the fireplace, is the light filled conservatory. Within the service wing at the rear of the house is the pantry and kitchen. The kitchen was originally just a warming kitchen, as the main kitchen was in the basement, but Bishop Byrne expanded the room to a full service kitchen during his tenure. The wing also contains the servant's vestibule with the servant's staircase and dumbwaiter as well as a coat closet that is tucked around the back side of the rotunda staircase and contains a sink from the famed Pullman railcars.

Second floor

The second floor is anchored by the Sitting Room, at the center of the house, from which the family bedrooms were accessed. The room was used often by the Gresham family to listen to music during the hot summer months.

• Bishop's Bedroom - This was originally a bedroom of one of the Gresham daughters, but Bishop Byrne chose it for his own with its private balcony and lighting. He converted the closet into a bathroom.
• Chapel - This was also previously one of the Gresham daughter's bedrooms. When the Diocese moved in, the windows were replaced with stained-glass, and a fresco depicting the four gospel writers was painted on the ceiling. The room was also outfitted with an altar and six prayer kneelers.
• Mr. Gresham's Room
• Mrs. Gresham's Room
• Bathroom - The tub in this bathroom is of note for its three spigots: one for hot, one cold, and one for rainwater.
• Bedroom for guests or the children's governess.

Third floor

• The boy's rooms
• Mrs. Gresham's art studio
• Additional storage

Bishop's Palace has four floors. The raised basement which once housed the kitchen and servant's areas now contains the store. This basement is followed by three formal floors.

American Gothic in style, the palace was all stone, trimmed in blue granite from North Texas. Its roof was Spanish tile made in Baltimore; the staircase was built in Cincinnati and shipped down the Mississippi River. The chandeliers came from Venice, the damask wallpaper from London, and the marble for bathroom fixtures and fireplaces from Italy. One fireplace, made from onyx and silver for the music room, won a prize for artistic merit at the 1886 International Exposition before it was shipped to Galveston. The Gresham's had the palace's twenty-five rooms paneled in mahogany, black walnut, rosewood, oak, satinwood and maple.

Nicholas Clayton designed the house. The small lot and oversized house make it an anomaly among similar houses of its period and architectural style. It is Victorian; however, it is more specifically described as Chateausque given the intricate combination of materials, cast iron galleries and complex roof system. Chateausque is a derivative of the French Revival popularized in the latter part of the 19th century by Richard Morris Hunt. Nicholas Clayton, however, expanded on the style by using varicolored and irregularly shaped stone, round Romanesque and depressed Tudor arches with heavily articulated carvings of vegetation, animals, people, and imaginary creatures. Constructed of steel and stone (it survived the Great Storm of 1900 virtually unscathed), the Bishop’s Palace soars three stories over a raised basement level, with steep roofs and long sculptural chimneys. Typical of Clayton, he used a combination of simple geometric forms in bold massing to create an additional dramatic effect. In Galveston’s great period of mansion building – the 1870s, 80s and 90s – Gresham’s commission of Nicholas Clayton, Galveston’s premier architect, resulted in Clayton’s most spectacular residential design and arguably the finest of the “Broadway beauties.”

The interior spaces are grand with exotic materials such as a pair of Sienna marble columns flanking the entrance hall. The first floor rooms have fourteen foot ceilings that are coved and coffered. An octagonal mahogany stairwell is forty feet tall with stained glass on five sides. The stair is lit by a large octagonal skylight. A massive fireplace in the front parlor is made of Santo Domingo mahogany. The house includes abundant stained glass, wood carvings, and decorative plaster ceilings and walls. http://www.galvestonhistory.org/attractions/architectural-heritage/bishops-palace

The house is built from native Texas granite, white limestone, and red sandstone, which were all cut and shaped on the premises. The hand-carved interior woodwork is made of several rare woods, such as rosewood, satinwood, white mahogany, American oak, and maple. The wood surface on each side of its massive sliding doors matches the room it faces.

On Gresham's request, Clayton showcased rare and luxurious materials, such as African marble and pure silver, in the house's numerous fireplaces.

Other lavish details include hand-carved stone ornamentation, wrought-iron railing, and an inventive cooling system comprised of slatted windows that allowed breezes from the Gulf to enter without admitting the hot sun as well. http://www.humanitiestexas.org/news/articles/bishops-palace-galveston-treasure

Built on a parcel of land that Clayton deemed too small for such an imposing structure, Gresham house was constructed over a six year period from 1887 to 1893. The Gresham family moved into the house in 1890, a full three years before final completion. It took six years to finish completely, at a cost of about $250,000. Col. Gresham was actively involved in the details of construction, consulting closely with Clayton. Clayton was a mathematical wizard who was very precise and meticulous. As a result, he expected near perfection from his contractors. The imposing stone work on Gresham house was cut on site by John O’Brien, Clayton’s favorite stone-mason, who also sculpted the ornate stone facings. The luxurious interior decoration and painting was done by Clayton’s father-in-law, Col. Daniel Ducie. Nicholas Joseph Clayton’s design of the stone mansion included four four-story towers topped with tiled cones, several balconies featuring delicate black grillwork, solid oak doors, the finest of sculptures, singular fireplaces from around the world, including one lined with pure silver, and stained-glass windows of the finest detail. In 1923, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston purchased it for $37,000 to serve as the home for Bishop Christopher E. Byrne, Bishop of Sacred Heart Church across the street from Gresham House. During his tenure, a chapel was added in Josephine’s bedroom, the eldest daughter of the Greshams. The incredible stained glass figures of the four apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul in the chapel were painstakingly painted in Germany using a single bristle brush to create the finest detail. http://galvestonislandguide.com/the-bishops-palace-galvestons-most-significant-building-and-the-fourteen-most-representative-victorian-structures/

The house cost more than $8 million in today's dollars, according to "Galveston, a History of the Island," by Gary Cartwright. Cartwright described the house at 14th Street and Broadway as "A gray sandstone and granite fortress, with four four-story turrets, topped with the winged horses of Assyria, a trio of tiled cones and numerous chimneys and balconies." http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/For-sale-Bishop-s-Palace-in-Galveston-4587943.php

The house was built from Texas granite, red sandstone, and white limestone and it has four floors. There is also a basement which is followed by three formal floors. On the first floor, there is a dining room with a fresco on the ceiling, as well as the kitchen, the library, the music room, the Parlor, the Conservatory, and the Servant’s Vestibule. The Bishop’s bedroom and Gresham’s room are on the second floor, and on the third floor is Gresham’s art room.

in 1887, the same year he was elected to the Texas Legislature, he commissioned Clayton to design his grand mansion. The Greshams formally opened their home on January 1, 1893. In 1923 the Galveston-Houston Diocese of the Catholic Church purchased the Gresham House for $40,500. The mansion became the Bishop's Palace when the Most Reverend Christopher C. E. Byrne lived there until his death in 1950. The Catholic Church turned the Palace over to the Newman Club in 1963, and three months later, the diocese opened the building to the public. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/tx/tx48.htm

The Bishop's Palace is a masonry mansion on a partially raised basement. It is of rusticated limestone with granite and sandstone trim. The roof is of glazed tile. The main portion has a high pitched hip roof with a short ridge parallel to the front facade, but there are numerous towers, dormers and gables each separately roofed and creating a picturesque and irregular roof line.

The plan is visually asymmetric, but is in fact essentially central, with central entrance and hall. Round and polygonal bays create an irregular front facade. There are gabled ells on both sides and there is a two-story rear wing. A one-story veranda wraps around the southeast corner of the house. There is a one-story apse-shaped glassed-in conservatory on the east side. There are five chimneys, all carried up to great height and are highly ornamented.

The front entrance is approached by a grand flight of stone steps. The veranda railing is of delicately proportioned castiron with slender columns and lacy brackets. The cast iron balustrade at the main level is repeated to form a balcony railing at the second level. A matching small bracketed cast iron balcony forms a canopy over the central second story door.

The windows of the two main stories are double hung with single lights. Each window has a single pane transom and these vary in treatment, some decorated and some opaque. There are carved lintels above the transoms. The third-story windows are varied; those of the round tower are treated as a Romanesque arcade. There is a tall barbican beside the round tower. The entire building is richly ornamented but the most elaborate stone work is concentrated near the roof line. Large cast iron griffins and stone finials cap the roof apexes. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972030

Circa 1970