Background
James Gallier was born in 1798 in Ireland, United Kingdom.
(a historic Greek Revival school building located on Gover...)
a historic Greek Revival school building located on Government Street in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was under construction from 1836 to 1839 and was designed by architects James H. Dakin, Charles B. Dakin, and James Gallier.
James Gallier was born in 1798 in Ireland, United Kingdom.
He attended Dublin's Art School.
He worked in architectural and building offices in London until 1832, when he left for New York, ambitious for the greater opportunities in the United States. He found employment with the firm of Town and Davis, leading architects in New York, but terminated his connection after two years to sail in company with Charles Dakin for the south. Following a brief stay in Mobile. Ala., they went on to New Orleans, and in 1835 Mr. Gallier and the Dakin brothers formed a partnership. After being appointed architects for the St. Charles Hotel, a splendid building completed in 1837, they designed Christ Church (1836-7), the Ionic portico of which now fronts the Columbus Building on Carondolet Street; and other notable structures in the city including the Merchants Exchange on Royal Street, and the Verandah Hotel, 1837-38.
Following the departure of the Dakins from New Orleans about 1840, Mr. Gallier carried on his work alone for a decade. His outstanding architectural achievement in that period was the City Hall, the most distinctive building of Greek Revival design in the city, erected between 1845 and 1850. The Tench Opera House (burned in 1917) and the Pontabla Apartments are generally credited to him although his son James was associated with him on the buildings. In addition Mr. Gallier planned and built many privately owned homes in New Orleans and vicinity, including the Dr. Mercer house on Canal Street, later occupied by the Boston Club. Also ascribed to him is the Grinnan-Henderson residence, No. 2222 Prytania Street, and the Beauregard house on Chartres Street, although the latter is credited by another authority to J. H. Correjola.
In 1823, while in England, he met and married Elizabeth Tyler. Their only surviving child was James Gallier, Jr., who also became an architect.
On June 23, 1850, in Charleston, South Carolina, he married Catherine Maria Robinson of Mobile, Alabama.