Bishop's Palace

The Bishop's Palace in Galveston, Texas, has received national attention as an extreme example of the exuberance of the eclectic late Victorian taste in America. The architect was Nicholas J. Clayton of Galveston, who created bold effects and strongly modulated facades in many of his churches and commercial buildings of the period, and here released all restraints. There is an emphatic irregularity to the building, emphasized by an energetic and varied facade, and the roof line is crested with towers, tall chimneys, and heavy ornament. Fine craftsmanship is evident in the stonework and also in all the detailing throughout the mansion.

The house was built by Walter Gresham, a prominent lawyer, Texas Legislator, and Representative to the fifty-third Congress. Gresham was born July 22, 1841, in King and Queen County, Virginia, into a family of planters and notable lawyers. He was the grandson of Thomas Gresham, who practiced law in Essex County, Virginia, and the son of Edward Gresham, who was trained in law but devoted his time to the family plantation.

Walter Gresham received his early education in private schools. Between 1861 and the end of the Civil War in 1865, he fought with Lee's Rangers in the Army of Virginia and earned an L.B. degree at the University of Virginia. When family fortunes were ruined by the war, he moved to Texas, and landed in Galveston on December 31, 1866, with $5.00. He opened a law office, and in October of 1868, he married Josephine Mann.

In 1872 Gresham was elected District Attorney for Galveston and Brazoria Counties. In 1875 he became involved in the railroad business. He was one of the active leaders in the organization of Galveston citizens who acquired the charter of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Company. He was a stockholder in the company and served as director, attorney, and second vice president.

In 1887 Gresham's interests turned again to politics. He was elected to the Twentieth Texas Legislature, a position he held for six years. During that time he served as chairman of the House Financial Committee. In 1892 he was elected as a Representative of the tenth Congressional District to the Fifty-third Congress.

Gresham also worked actively to secure a deepwater harbor for Galveston, as well as good water transportation systems for all of Texas. From 1901 to the outbreak of World War I, for example, he was active in such groups as the National Rivers and Harbors Congress and the Inter-Coastal Canal Commission.

Gresham's affluence increased as his participation in civic affairs developed. In 1887, the same year he was elected to the Texas Legislature, he commissioned the Galveston architect, Nicholas Joseph Clayton, to design a grand mansion. Cost estimates of the Gresham mansion vary from contemporary guesses of $250,000 to $500,000. In 1887, however, reporters were more conservative, and the lowest cost reported, $75,000, was the public figure released by Gresham during the construction of the building.
Clayton was at work on the design early in 1887, and construction was reported to have begun in the spring of that year. Building activity continued for the following six years, and although the house was unfinished in some minor details, 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 Most Reverend Vincent M. Harris, Chancellor of the Galveston-Houston Diocese, and later Bishop of Beaumont Diocese, also occupied the Palace.
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.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark- 1967.