DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Richard and Minerva King House, standing there on a bluff above Corpus Christi Bay. Now, if you're going to build a house in south Texas after a hurricane has already taken one from you, you'd better mean business the second time around. Richard King — grandson of rancher Captain Richard King — he meant business.
Richard King was born in 1884, out on his father's ranch in Agua Dulce, right in the middle of the ranching and cattle world of south Texas. That world shaped him early. But he also got himself an education — a degree in agricultural studies at the University of Texas — and by 1907 he had married Minerva Pierport Heaney, born in 1888, daughter of a well-known Corpus Christi physician.
A man with roots in the land and eyes on the future. He started a career at the Corpus Christi National Bank, and he climbed steadily. By 1913, he was appointed to the bank board.
Nineteen twenty-four, promoted to vice president. Nineteen twenty-six, chairman of the finance committee — where he helped raise funds for Corpus Christi's new deep water port. He was also instrumental in bringing the naval air station to Corpus Christi.
Not a man who sat still. But then there was the 1919 hurricane. It took his home.
Gone. So in 1928, Richard King built again. And this time, he built like he was sending a message to every storm that ever blew in off the Gulf.
He commissioned architect John M. Marriott of San Antonio to design a two-story brick Italian Renaissance home, and he hired San Antonio contractor Fidel Chamberlain to build it. They set it on a natural bluff overlooking Corpus Christi Bay — the kind of location that puts you eye-to-eye with whatever's coming.
The foundation duplicated the Nixon Building. The walls went up in double courses of solid brick. Ten-foot ceilings inside.
Crown molding. Multiple fireplaces. Multi-paneled double hung windows.
A Spanish s-type ceramic tile roof up top. The whole thing was built, the marker tells us plainly, to withstand hurricanes and high winds. Richard King was not going to lose another house.
And Minerva King — she made sure the house did more than just stand there looking handsome. She utilized it as an active site for civic meetings held for a variety of philanthropic groups. She organized the Civic Music Association.
She organized the Order of De Pineda. That house had life moving through it. Minerva King was born in 1888 and passed in 1966.
Richard King was born in 1884 and lived until 1974. And in 1965, Richard King High School was named in his honor — a man the city of Corpus Christi decided was worth remembering. Built on a bluff, built of double brick, built after loss — the King House still overlooks that bay.
Some things, when they're made right, just refuse to go anywhere.
What the marker says
Richard King (1884-1974), grandson of rancher Captain Richard King, built this two-story brick Italian Renaissance home in 1928 after losing his previous home during the 1919 hurricane. King was born on his father's ranch in Agua Dulce and grew up in the ranching and cattle world of south Texas. He earned a degree in agricultural studies at the University of Texas and, in 1907, married Minerva Pierport Heaney (1888-1966), daughter of a well-known Corpus Christi physician. King began a career at the Corpus Christi National Bank and, by 1913, he was appointed to the bank board. In 1924, he was promoted to vice president of the bank and then chairman of the finance committee in 1926 where he helped raise funds for Corpus Christi's new deep water port. King was also instrumental in bringing the naval air station to Corpus Christi. In 1965, Richard King High School was named in his honor. Minerva King utilized the home as an active site for civic meetings held for a variety of philanthropic groups. She also organized the Civic Music Association and the Order of De Pineda. Constructed on a natural bluff overlooking Corpus Christi Bay, the house was designed by John M. Marriott of San Antonio and built by San Antonio contractor Fidel Chamberlain. Built of double courses of solid brick and a foundation that duplicated the Nixon Building, The King House was built to withstand hurricanes and high winds. The home features a Spanish s-type ceramic tile roof, 10-foot ceilings, crown molding, multiple fireplaces and multi-paneled double hung windows. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK - 2016