DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. This is the story of the Grande-Grossman House. Now, a house that gets moved a mile to keep from being torn down — that's a house with something worth saving.
And this one has earned that fight twice over. The structure was built in 1904 as a residence for the family of Benito Grande, born in 1865. The Grandes weren't newcomers to Corpus Christi — Benito had come here with his parents back in the late 1860s, just a small boy in a city still findin' its footing.
He grew up watching this place take shape, and then he helped shape it right back. When his father died in 1902, Benito stepped into the family business and didn't just carry it forward — he carried it upward. He became a prominent and very successful leader in Corpus Christi's Mexican-American community.
Two years after that, he built himself a home worthy of the life he'd made. Then in 1915, the Grande family moved to Dallas, and the house on Artesian Street passed into the next chapter of its life. In 1925, the home was acquired for Rebecca Grossman — born in 1870, first matriarch of the Grossman family, and a woman who had already proven she didn't back down from hard things.
During the early 1900s, she had helped her older children emigrate from Russia. She moved into that house and she stayed. Mrs.
Grossman lived there until her death in 1952 — twenty-seven years under that roof, long enough to watch her descendants grow into outstanding leaders in business, medicine, law, politics, and religious affairs across Corpus Christi. The house itself is worth a good long look. Originally built with a two-story central hall and some bungalow-style features, it already had character.
Then in the late 1920s, the Grossmans added the porch — and not just any porch. This one encircles the house on three sides. The dominant features are the brick piers and the stick-style brackets supporting the eaves.
It's the kind of architecture that says: we are here, and we intend to stay. And staying is exactly what this house did. Originally located at 709 Artesian Street, about a mile southwest of where it stands now, the structure was moved in 1982 to preserve it from demolition.
Someone looked at a hundred-year-old house and decided it was worth the trouble of movin' it down the road rather than letting it disappear. Turns out, two families and all they built — the Grandes and the Grossmans — were worth the trouble too. The Grande-Grossman House has been preserved as an expression of part of the heritage of Corpus Christi.
And some heritage, it is.
What the marker says
This structure was built in 1904 as a residence for the family of Benito Grande (1865-1926). Originally located at 709 Artesian Street (approximately 1 mile southwest), it was moved here in 1982 to preserve it from demolition. Benito Grande moved to Corpus Christi with his parents in the late 1860's. Upon his father's death in 1902, Grande took over the family business and became a prominent and very successful leader in Corpus Christi's Mexican-American community. The Benito Grande family moved to Dallas in 1915. The home was acquired in 1925 for Rebecca Grossman, first matriarch of the Grossman family, who helped her older children emigrate from Russia during the early 1900's. Mrs. Grossman (b. 1870) lived here until her death in 1952. Descendants in Corpus Christi were outstanding leaders in business, medicine, law, politics, and religious affairs. Originally built with a two story central hall, the house has some bungalow style features. The porch, which encircles the house on three sides, was added by the Grossmans in the late 1920's. Its dominant features are the brick piers and the stick style brackets supporting the eaves. The Grande-Grossman house has been preserved as an expression of part of the heritage of Corpus Christi.