top of page

(Galloway mansion) Paisley Hall

Jay Brothers

1822 Overton Park Ave. and encompassed an entire city block

Circa 1908. Greek Revival mansion 


The mansion boasts three floors and six 2-story columns in front.




Col. Robert Galloway (1843-1918) and May Jones Galloway (1871-1942). They married in 1908. His first wife was Mary Hall Galloway (1845-1902). They married in 1865. He named the mansion Paisley Hall for his birthplace in Scotland.


Photo by Spencer Kellum

He worked for the Southern Railway and then started Galloway Coal Company which brought them wealth, and he owned the Patterson Transfer Company. He and a partner also started the Memphis Grain and Package Elevator in 1883. He was a Commissioner of the Memphis Taxing District in 1879 when Memphis lost its charter after the epidemic. He helped get Memphis Zoo built. He was chairman of the Memphis Park Commission for 17 of its beginning years (1901) and arranged the creation of Overton Park. He built the first hotel in Memphis, the Alcazar. Mary Galloway was very involved with “The Home for Aged Women” started by “Willing Hands Circle” of the King’s Daughter which assists single ladies in financial need. The Galloways purchased land and paid the debts for a new building for the organization. In 1902, the board named the place The Mary Galloway Home in her honor after her death that year. 


In 1943, Rhodes College (then called Southwestern at Memphis) purchased the home to use as the Memphis College of Music. That arrangement lasted thirty years until the music school moved on-campus. 


Then Gary Belz and F.L. Billings bought the estate. Billings bought out Belz and sold the home to Dr. Marshall L. Koonce (1938-2002) and Robert Dean Budiselich. 


In 1977, Dr. Koonce and Budiselich got the house with about 4 acres and nine adjacent lots which made up the rest of the city block. Dr. Koonce was involved with Friends for Life, Senior Services, Porter-Leath Children’s Home, and the past president of Ballet Memphis and Opera Memphis. During this time, Paisley Hall was used as a venue for parties, political fundraisers, a decorator’s showhouse, and events for the Evergreen Historic District Association. 





By 1998 Barry and Lori Bolding owned the home and started renovations. They had lived in Collierville and moved closer to Memphis. Barry has a transportation business, and the couple both run three companies - Alamo Trailer Leasing, Alamo Transportation, and Alamo Transportation and Warehousing. 


The property was sold at auction in 2003. In 2010, it had about 1 acre. In 2018, the Coleman family were owners. NR 1980


Sources: 

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page