Cervini House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it its due. Now, everybody who built something worth remembering in early Texarkana had a story that started somewhere far away, and Joseph Cervini's story started about as far away as you can get. Genoa, Italy.

He made it to Texarkana in 1884, and the first thing he did was open a restaurant. That alone takes a certain kind of nerve in a town still finding its feet. But Cervini wasn't just feeding people.

He was watching. Watching the land downtown, watching where the money moved, and making investments that paid off. Those profits from downtown land are what built the dream.

In 1914, he had this home constructed for his family. And when I say he built a home, I mean he built a statement. Two stories.

A wraparound gallery that goes all the way around, brick piers holding it up with some authority, cast-stone heavy balusters, and a low-pitched tile hipped roof that tips its hat to both the bungalow tradition and the Prairie School. It is the kind of house that says a man arrived, not just in Texarkana, but in life. Joseph Cervini was born in 1857 and died in 1922, and the home he built outlasted him by a long stretch.

The Cervini family kept it. Held onto it all the way until 1981. Nearly seventy years of the same family in the same rooms under that same hipped roof.

That is not nothing. That is a home that did its job. From Genoa to Texarkana, from a restaurant to a legacy written in brick and cast stone.

That is the Cervini House.

What the marker says

Joseph Cervini (1857-1922) came to Texarkana from Genoa, Italy in 1884 and opened a restaurant. With profits from downtown land investments, he had this home built for his family in 1914. Exhibiting influences of the bungalow and Prairie School styles, the home features a two-story wraparound gallery, brick piers, cast-stone heavy balusters, and a low-pitched tile hipped roof. The home remained in the Cervini family until 1981. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1988