"...A Farm Lad From Missouri Found A Castle In The Sky..."

As a kid, whenever anybody in my family talked about “the Bishop” they were referring to my great-uncle, Christopher E. Byrne, the Catholic Bishop of Galveston, Texas.  My dad was named for his uncle, as is my older brother and his son, my nephew. 

 

Born in Byrnesville, Missouri on April 21, 1867, the fifth of eight children born to Patrick and Rose Byrne, both Irish immigrants, Christopher Byrne was ordained into the priesthood on September 23, 1901.   After six years at St. Bridget’s parish in St. Louis, Father Byrne suffered heart failure.  His doctors told him he had what they referred to as a "singing" heart and that he had only a short time to live.  He took a leave of absence and, accompanied by his mother, travelled to Texas, convinced he was going to die there.  Gradually, his health improved and he returned to Missouri, where he served in parishes around the state for another ten years. 

Bishop Christopher E. Byrne (1867 - 1950)

In July, 1918, Father Byrne was appointed by Pope Benedict XV to be the fourth bishop of Galveston.  When he went there, he was the only bishop in Texas who had no “official residence” – he lived in two rooms in the rectory of St. Mary’s Cathedral – but in 1923, all of the parishes of the diocese contributed to the purchase of the Greshem house at 1402 Broadway, to be used as the bishop’s residence and administrative offices.  The house, begun in 1886 and completed in 1892, was purchased from the widow of Colonel Walter Gresham, a prominent lawyer, businessman and Texas Congressman, for $40,500.  Bishop Byrne lived there from 1923 until his sudden death from a massive heart attack on April 1, 1950, just 3 weeks short of his 83^rd birthday.  Two of his siblings, unmarried sisters Ella and Mary, also lived in the home and served as official “hostesses” when the Bishop entertained or held functions at the house.  Mary preceded her brother in death; Ella, upon the Bishop’s passing, returned to Missouri and lived out the final few years of her life at my grandmother’s house. 
 

The Bishop's Palace, Galveston, Texas (photo courtesy of Galveston Historical Assn.)

Photography is not allowed inside the house.  All interior pictures are from post cards.
This was Mrs. Gresham's bedroom with bathroom behind it.  The house was built
with running water and flush toilets, a rarity in the 1890s

The music room.  The surround and the mantle of the fireplace are sterling silver.
The piano belonged to Bishop Byrne.  The portraits are of Col. and Mrs. Gresham



Parlor off the entrance hall.  Bishop Byrne used this room as his office.
In the rear, you can see the dining room, with chairs around the table.

Second floor hallway at the top of the staircase

The massive stone-and-steel structure, designed by acclaimed Texas architect Nicholas Clayton, soars three stories over a raised basement and is estimated to have cost $250,000 to build.  It is so well built that it withstood the “Great Storm of 1900” virtually unscathed, while the hurricane devastated much of Galveston Island.  “Gresham’s Palace” as the home was called when it was completed, was constructed from carved limestone (accented with red sandstone, red granite, and gray granite) and steel frame, making the exterior walls, including interior wood paneling, twenty-three inches thick.  The facade features elaborate carvings of people, plants, animals, and mythical creatures.  It has steep roofs and tall turret-like chimneys.  Stained glass windows, magnificent fireplaces (one lined in pure silver), wood floors, exquisite paneling of rosewood, satinwood and white mahogany, and a majestic octagonal forty-foot-tall wooden staircase distinguish the interior of the 7,500 square foot, 52 room home. Rare woods constitute much of the elaborate carved features throughout the house.  The mansion is currently valued in excess of $5.5 million.  The Bishop’s Palace is sparsely furnished today, and the pieces that are there are items that can be traced directly to either the Greshem family or to Bishop Byrne. 
 

Front steps and front door of The Bishop's Palace

Detail around the open front porch

Carved figures that were part of the architect's design

The house from street level

This building is on Sealy Street, immediately behind the Palace and is accessible from the back of
the property.  It served as the Chancery Office for the Galveston diocese.  Today it is a private home

 

 

 



Another view of the large, open wrap-around front porch



After the Church purchased the mansion, a second-floor bedroom was converted into a chapel where the Bishop could offer daily mass.  The Bishop’s Episcopal coat-of-arms was added to the exterior of the house; its motto is Nec Tiemo Nec Sperno (I neither fear nor despise).

The chapel on the second floor of the Bishop's Palace

Following Bishop Byrne’s death, his successor moved the administrative offices of the Galveston-Houston diocese to Houston.  (The diocese didn’t become an archdiocese until 2004.)  The former bishop’s residence fell into disrepair.  In 1963, the diocese opened the house to tours, with proceeds being used to fund the Newman Center, operating in the basement and serving Catholic students from the nearby University of Texas Medical Center.  Today, the Newman Center no longer occupies the basement, and the revenue from tourism is used to maintain the home.  Even so, the cost of keeping the mansion in repair is massive.  When we visited in October 2013, we learned that the roof needs to be replaced, and estimates for the re-roofing project are $2.5 to $3 million.
 

Architectural detail and view of a section of the roof.  Due to age, the roof now needs to be replaced.

The roofline from a distance

More architectural details

 

In 1970 the “Bishop’s Palace” as it had by then come to be known, was added to the National Register of Historic Buildings.  The American Institute of Architects has listed the home as one of the 100 most significant buildings in the United States, and the Library of Congress has classified it as one of the fourteen most representative Victorian structures in the nation.
 

Bishop Byrne's grave (large flat stone) in Calvary Cemetery in Galveston.  The
upright crosses mark the graves of priests of the diocese and surround the Bishop.



Close-up of the Bishop's grave.  The inscription, in Latin, includes
the Bishop's name and four dates: his birth, his ordination as a priest,
his consecration as the Bishop of Galveston, and his death.

 

I didn’t know Bishop Christopher Byrne; I was nine months old when he died, but my mother told me that I was the last baby that the Bishop ever baptized, while he was in Missouri visiting family in the summer of 1949.  “The Bishop” never returned to Missouri after the summer of 1949.  He is buried in Calvary Cemetery, just a few miles from the home where he lived for so many years.  But he never forgot his Midwest roots and was once quoted as saying “I still can’t see how a farm lad from Missouri found a castle in the sky in far-away Texas.”

 

Admission charged.  For more information, visit   http://www.galveston.com/bishopspalace/

 

The Bishop’s Palace – an architectural masterpiece, a storied piece of history, and a very personal connection – all the elements that make for great Road Stories.