James J. Egan

James J. Egan, FAIA, (1839, Cork, Ireland—December 2, 1914, Chicago, Illinois) was an Irish-American architect and fellow of the American Institute of Architects practicing in Chicago, Illinois. He was a partner of the Chicago architectural firms Armstrong & Egan, Egan & Kirkland and Egan & Prindeville, which gained prominence designing Roman Catholic structures.
Early life
Born in Cork, Ireland, Egan was educated at a private academy in Cork, Ireland before graduating from the Government School of Design, Queens College, Cork. He also studied in England before emigrating in 1864. He arrived at Castle Garden, New York City and found work as a draftsman for Richard Upjohn. He continued his training under Charles W. Clinton who had previously trained with Upjohn, and was "one of the most refined designers in the Renaissance styles". He also worked under Clinton's sometime associate Edward Tuckerman Potter of Schenectady, New York, whose tastes leaned toward Gothic Revival.
Chicago
He relocated to Chicago, Illinois shortly after Chicago's great fire in 1871, where he became heavily involved in reconstruction. He also developed strong personal connections with leaders in the Chicago Roman Catholic Church, and received the commission for St. Vincent de Paul Church in Lincoln Park. He and formed several partnerships with fellow architects.
John M. Armstrong was born around 1840 on a farm at Kinzie and Wells Streets. He was a councilman at the age of twenty and is credited with the relocation of the city's first cemetery to make way for Lincoln Park. Around 1874, Egan went into partnership with Armstrong, forming the firm of Armstrong & Egan which designed the City Hall/County Building (1874). Disagreements arose between the City Council and the County Board, with each pursuing their respective portion of the project separately.
Henry W. Hill was born in Elmshorn, Germany and attended the Inst. of Technology ad Polytechnicum in Hamburg. He arrived in Chicago in March 1872 and was employed in the offices of a number of leading architects. Hill worked for Armstrong & Egan on the courthouse project. From 1875 to 1881 Egan partnered with Hill, in the firm Egan & Hill. In 1881, Hill went into partnership with Augustus Bauer. Hill retired to Holstein, Germany in 1914.
Egan & Kirkland
In 1882, he formed a partnership with Alex Kirkland. Kirkland had previously served as Supervising Architect on Armstrong & Egan's City Hall/County Building project.
Hotel St. Benedict Flats, 801 North Wabash Street (1882–1883), a four-story building of luxury apartments on Chicago Avenue at Wabash.
Church of St. Thomas the Apostle (1885), Beloit, Wisconsin.
St. Raphael's Cathedral in Dubuque, Iowa (1886 interior renovation)
St. Mary's Church, Clinton, Iowa (1888, demolished in 2009),
St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in San Francisco, California (1891, destroyed by fire in 1962)
Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport, Iowa (1891)
St. Ambrose Cathedral in Des Moines, Iowa (1891)
St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1893)
St. Paul's Church in Burlington, Iowa (1895)
Egan & Prindeville
Egan formed the firm "Egan & Prindeville" with Charles H. Prindeville. It gained prominence building Roman Catholic churches and other structures, including the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, St. Paul Cathedral (1906). Egan was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1913; he died in Chicago in 1914. The firm continued under Charles Prindeville after Egan's death.
St. Francis de Sales Church (1899, demolished), Keokuk, Iowa
St. Vincent de Paul Church in Chicago (1897)
St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1906), as Egan & Prindeville
St. Pius V Church, Pilsen neighborhood, Chicago, IL
St. Bridget Church Chicago, Il (demolished, 1992)
Gallery
Structures designed by James J. Egan
References
1839 births
1914 deaths
19th-century American architects
Irish-American culture
Architects from Cork (city)
Irish emigrants to the United States
Alumni of University College Cork
American ecclesiastical architects
Gothic Revival architects
Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
Architects of Roman Catholic churches
Architects of cathedrals
Defunct architecture firms based in Chicago