James Charles Cavanagh was born in 1874. He was an architect who exhibited with the West Australian Society of Arts in 1896. Cavanagh and his brother undertook much work for the Roman Catholic Church including convents, monasteries, the Bishop's Palace, Church of the Oblate Fathers in Fremantle, St John of God Hospital in Subiaco and St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Kalgoorlie. The Esplanade Hotel was their design.