DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Dr. Claudius E. R.
King House in Bexar County. Now settle in, because this one starts across an ocean and ends with a cup of tea — and there's a whole lot of ground covered in between. C.
E. R. King was born in England in 1839, and by 1851 he had already crossed the Atlantic and planted himself in America.
The man had ambition written all over him from the start. When the Civil War came calling — 1861 through 1865 — King served as a Confederate Army surgeon. Think about what that means for a moment.
An English-born doctor, stitching and sawing his way through one of the bloodiest conflicts this country has ever known. By the time all that smoke cleared, King had seen enough of life and death to know exactly what kind of place he wanted to put down roots. He chose San Antonio.
And then, in 1880, he made a decision that tells you something about the man's taste. He didn't hire just any architect. He hired Alfred Giles — noted, the marker calls him, and noted he was — an Englishman himself, born in 1853.
Two Englishmen in Texas, and together they raised up a Victorian structure in native stone that served King as both home and office all at once. The house wasn't just a place to sleep — it was where he practiced, where he lived, where he was fully himself. King died in 1919, but his family wasn't finished with the place.
Descendants held on until 1929, nearly a decade after he was gone. And when they finally let go, it wasn't to just anybody. The Junior League of San Antonio purchased the house and turned it into a tea room and meeting place.
An English doctor's Victorian stone house, become a gathering spot for San Antonio society. You almost have to think old C. E.
R. King would have appreciated that — or at least smiled a little at the symmetry.
What the marker says
Built by English-born physician C.E.R. King (1839-1919), who came to America in 1851; was a Confederate Army surgeon in Civil War (1861-65). He moved to San Antonio and in 1880 employed noted archtiect Alfred Giles (1853-1920), also an Englishman, to design house. In the native stone, Victorian structure, King had both home and office. Descendants resided here until 1929, when Junior League of San Antonio purchased it for use as a tea room and meeting place.