Background
Gailey was born in Donegal, Ireland and emigrated to Australia in 1864, becoming an influential and prolific architect in colonial-era Brisbane.
Gailey was born in Donegal, Ireland and emigrated to Australia in 1864, becoming an influential and prolific architect in colonial-era Brisbane.
His substantial body of work includes many commercial and residential buildings in Brisbane that today are considered colonial treasures. Some of these include:
Wickham Hotel at Fortitude Valley (1885)
Regatta Hotel at Toowong (1886)
Jubilee Hotel at Fortitude Valley (1887)
Sandgate Baptist Church (1887)
Prince Consort Hotel at Fortitude Valley (1888) in Fortitude Valley, now known as the Elephant Hotel
Moorlands at Auchenflower (1892)
Brisbane Girl"s Grammar School at Spring Hill
Empire Hotel in Fortitude Valley
Orient Hotel in Queen Street (formerly the Excelsior)
Oddfellows Hall at Fortitude Valley
Baroona Labor Hall in Caxton Street
Musgrave House at Shorncliffe
Masonic Hall at Toowong
Sandgate Town Hall
Windermere, 14 Sutherland Avenue Ascot
Gailey"s work combines the practical value in a sub-tropical environment of high-thermal mass masonry walls with the aesthetic value of finely detailed arches creating a wide veranda to shade the load-bearing walls from the sun during the hottest part of the day. This is best seen in the Brisbane Girls Grammar School.
A cost-reducing alternative to masonry arches is seen in commercial buildings like the Regatta Hotel.
The wrought-iron filigree lacework replaces the masonry arches of the outer veranda. This elegant and practical approach has become known as Queenslander architecture.
Its use became widespread in early Queensland residential properties of substance. Richard Gailey owned property in the area that came to known as Taringa.
His name is commemorated in Gailey Road.