Nicholas J. Clayton

Nicholas J. Clayton. November 1, 1839 – December 9, 1916. Nicholas Clayton's legacy is the Victorian architecture for which Galveston is famous. Born in Ireland, he came to Galveston in 1872 to supervise the building of the second Tremont Hotel. With its rotunda of Corinthian columns, Italian marble floors, and grand staircase, the second Tremont Hotel became the finest hotel in the South. Galveston's greatest architect of the 19th century designed a number of Galveston landmarks from the Block Oppenheimer Building on the Strand, with its cast-iron columns. The Galveston Pavilion, a two-story ornamental beach-side structure, was the first building in Texas to have electric lights. , Clayton preferred to design churches. Examples are the First Presbyterian Church and Eaton Chapel. He was responsible for the University of Texas Medical School building, the Ashbel Smith Building known as “Old Red”, the Trueheart-Adriance building, the Ball, Hutchings and Co., and the John Sealy buildings, as well as the home of Colonel Walter Gresham known as the “Bishop's Palace”. Another of his palatial residences was “Open Gates” across from Monument Square which was the home of George Sealy, Sr. 1835-1901. , Texas Firsts. . The first white man to set foot on Texas soil, Cabeza de Vaca, did so on Galveston Island in 1523. , . Two hundred and fifty years ago, LaSalle visited Galveston and named it San Louis in honor of his sovereign, but Count Bernardo de Gálvez in 1777 renamed the island after himself, Gálvez, which later became Galveston. , . On December 9, 1836, Col. Michael Menard and nine associates purchased the present site of Galveston and organized the Galveston City Company. On February 5, 1841, this company was incorporated by the Republic of Texas, and liquidated in 1944. , . The first news of the victory of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, was received by President David Burnet and his Cabinet in Galveston.