James O'Donnell (1774–1830) was a noted Irish-American architect in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Biography

James O’Donnell was born in County Wexford, Ireland, to a wealthy family of

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

landowners. He became an architect. In 1812, at the age of 38, O'Donnell migrated to the United States and took up residence in

, where he successfully practised as an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. His major works in that city were the

Bloomingdale Insane Asylum The Bloomingdale Insane Asylum (1821–1889) was an American private hospital for the care of the mentally ill, founded by New York Hospital. It was located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, where Columbia Un ...

(1818–1821, demolished ), the Fulton Market (1821–1822, demolished 1936), and Christ Church (1822–1823, destroyed by fire 1847). O’Donnell took his inspiration for the last building from the

neo-Gothic style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

, which he favoured throughout his career. In 1817, he was elected to the

American Academy of the Fine Arts The American Academy of the Fine Arts was an art institution founded in 1802 in New York City, to encourage appreciation and teaching of the classical style. It exhibited copies of classical works and encouraged artists to emulate the classical in ...

in New York. O’Donnell moved to

to build the Notre-Dame Basilica from 1823 to 1829. For some years James O’Donnell had suffered from

edema Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue (biology), tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. S ...

, and from July 1829 his condition worsened. In November he dictated his will; at that point he decided to convert from

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He died shortly afterwards, on January 28, 1830. He is the only person buried in the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

of the Basilica. O'Donnell converted to Catholicism on his deathbed, perhaps due to the realization that he might not be allowed to be buried in his church.

Gallery

Image:Notre Dame Montreal db-2.jpg,

Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal) Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal ( French: ''Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal'') is a minor basilica of the Catholic Church in the historic Old Montreal district of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. It is located at 110 Notre-Dame Street West, at th ...

Footnotes

External links

Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, James 1830 deaths 1774 births Canadian people of Anglo-Irish descent Converts to Roman Catholicism Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Canadian architects Gothic Revival architects American emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec 18th-century Irish architects 19th-century Irish architects Architects from County Wexford