‘A dwelling among the flock’ PART 4: The present bishop’s residence

For more than 60 years if anyone asked where the bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi lived, Catholics would have immediately pointed to the residence on Ocean Drive.

With the retirement of Bishop Emmanuel Ledvina in March 1949 and the assumption of duties by his former “coadjutor”—bishop with right of succession—Bishop Mariano Simon Garriga, it appeared desirable to the new bishop to break with past tradition and allow privacy for himself by finding a residence separate from the episcopal offices, then housed at 620 Lipan.

The house ultimately chosen to serve that purpose was one built in the mid-1930s for J. Knox Culton and his family. Culton came to Corpus Christi in 1928 and initially opened an accounting and auditing office, but he made his fortune as an independent oil operator bringing in multiple wells in the Saxet Heights oil fields. “Saxet” was simply a reverse of the name “Texas” and reflected the pride Culton and other workers had as native Texans.

With his financial success, Culton was able to pay cash for an 11-acre track on Ocean Drive in 1935, at a time when that property was considered “out in the country” since it was about 10 miles from the city. Culton hired Morris L. Levy and his associates to serve as the architectural firm for his new house.

Levy, a native of San Antonio who began his career as city architect for St. Louis, had come to Corpus Christi in 1926. His works ultimately numbered more than 300 buildings in Corpus Christi, including schools, churches, theaters, bowling alleys, office buildings, bus stations and the west wing of the old Nueces County Courthouse. Besides the Culton house, probably his other best-known design for a personal residence was the V. M. Donigan house with its mid-eastern look at the S-Curve on Ocean Drive where it intersects with Alta Plaza.

With Wharton Johnson serving as contractor, the Culton house was built primarily during the Centennial of Texas in 1936. It had an exterior of Texas Limestone and followed a style usually identified as Spanish Mediterranean, reminiscent of the Spanish Missions in Texas. It was reportedly completed at a cost of $70,000 and attests to the economic impact of oil and gas discoveries in the coastal bend during the 1930s.

Since air-conditioning was not original to the house, the architect designed the building with ample windows, one room in depth, and facing in the direction that allowed the prevailing winds that came off the bay to cool the rooms. The interior of the house contains a number of interesting elements. Beautifully colored concrete floor tiles installed by Mexican artisans in four distinct patterns represent a Spanish art form found in Corpus Christi homes and buildings of the same period. Similar tiles also grace the present Corpus Christi Cathedral completed in 1940.

The paneled ceiling in the dining room, detailed roped plaster ceiling moldings, the ornate iron stair rail and the original metal light fixtures were consistent with this same style. Most of the house remains intact as designed by Levy, except for the third story octagonal lantern and cupola area that was re-configured multiple times—under Bishop Garriga, Bishop Rene H. Gracida and most recently under Bishop Michael Mulvey. It was in 1950, through the generosity of major donors, that the Diocese of Corpus Christi acquired the house as a residence for the bishop, and it has served six bishops of the diocese—Bishop Garriga, Bishop Thomas J. Drury, Bishop Gracida, Bishop Roberto O. Gonzalez, OFM, Bishop Edmond Carmody and Bishop Mulvey.

At one point Bishop Drury moved out of the house for an extended period to allow the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration that serve in the adjacent Blessed Sacrament Adoration Chapel to reside there until their convent was completed. During that period, Bishop Drury resided on Ocean View in a house adjacent to the Ocean Drive property.

With the help of the Kenedy family, the diocese was also able to acquire from the Cultons more than 40 furnishings original to the house. These included an Italian Credenza and art objects such as two antique candelabras and Bohemian Ruby Glass urns.

Other gifts included ornate silver pieces and paintings from John Kenedy and his sister Sarita Kenedy East. To accommodate some large diocesan functions held at the Bishop’s residence, in the 1980s Bishop Gracida installed a patio, a garden and a fishpond in the backyard of the house.

Over time, and with the installation of such items as air-conditioning, the house has had its share of deterioration and maintenance problems common to homes on the coast requiring recent extensive renovation that has made the house a place where the present shepherd—Bishop Mulvey—can continue to welcome his priests and other visitors to a warm and friendly setting that clearly proclaims the south Texas greeting. “Mi casa es su casa.”