Corpus Christi History by Murphy Givens

Grand hotels dominated city skyline

Corpus Christi's first modern hotel, with private bathrooms even, was the State Hotel built in 1908 by a native of Turkey, V.M. Donigan.
   The 25-room State, at the corner of Mesquite and Starr, was operated by Donigan and his sons Mesog and Parnot. It became the Town House in later years, before it was razed in 1965.
   Big news in 1912 was the opening of the Corpus Beach Hotel, built by John Dickensen on North Beach. It was surrounded by oleanders and palms; a streetcar stopped at the front door; and the grounds ran down to the water. People lounged under shingled sheds on the beach while waiters fetched drinks and snacks. Room rates at this luxury hotel began at $3.50, three times the price of a room at the State.
   The Beach Hotel was remodeled in 1915 and renamed The Breakers. Three years later, it was bought by the government for use as a convalescent hospital for soldiers wounded in France. The hospital was a refuge during the 1919 storm. The government sold the property in 1927 and it became The Breakers again. Five decades later, it was damaged by Celia and torn down.
   The pride of Corpus Christi was the 278-room Nueces Hotel, which opened in 1913. This grand hotel, the tallest building south of San Antonio, was built by several investors who were later bought out by rancher W. W. Jones.
   This aristocrat of hotels was famous for its Tropical Garden and Sun Parlor. During the 1919 storm, hundreds of guests and refugees rode out the ferocious storm in the hotel. Sadly, in its later years, it became a retirement home before it was torn down in 1971.
   In the 1920s, the Chamber of Commerce offered a $10,000 bonus to anyone who would build a resort hotel on the bayfront. The offer was taken up by Walter and Louise Foster, who built the Princess Louise Hotel at Mann and Water Streets. The 110-room hotel - with its light pink stucco and red-tile roof - was opened in January, 1928.
   The hotel was remodeled in the 1960s into an apartment complex and then razed after it was damaged by Celia in 1970.
   The Plaza Hotel (later the White Plaza) opened in 1929. The 14-story hotel towered over the bluff at Leopard and Broadway. It was known for an open-air balcony facing the bay, the lobby furniture supplied by the Pullman Coach Company, and a roof garden that resembled the deck of a ship.
   One of the principal investors in the Plaza was Robert Driscoll, who died soon after the hotel opened. In the 1930s, other investors sold out to Jack White, a former mayor of San Antonio who owned a chain of hotels. But Clara Driscoll, who inherited Robert's estate, refused to sell to White and a court suit over some dispute resulted. White won the suit, but it led Clara Driscoll to build a competing hotel on the bluff.
   The Robert Driscoll Hotel opened on May 25, 1942 in time for the great spurt of growth with the building of the Naval Air Station. The Driscoll catered to many famous guests. Tyrone Power kept a room there while he was in training at NAS. Mary Pickford stayed there while her husband trained to be a Navy pilot. Kathy Grant, the Robstown beauty who married Bing Crosby, stayed there; so did John Wayne.
   Clara Driscoll occupied a penthouse (with 12 bathrooms) on the 20th floor. A legend holds that Clara vowed to build a hotel where she could spit - or something - on the White Plaza. She could certainly look out her windows on the White Plaza below.
   The White Plaza was razed in 1962. The Driscoll was closed in 1970, the building stripped to its frame, and given a new façade of black granite. It still exists as an office and banking complex.
   Today's chain hotels are corporate copies that could be plucked down anywhere. But the old hotels - the St. James, the Nueces and the Driscoll - were intimately part of the city's tradition and pride.
   Oops. Last week I wrote that Justina (Bluntzer) Stevens owned the Bidwell. Her mother, Justina Bluntzer, owned the hotel.
  
   Murphy Givens can be reached by phone at 886-4315 or by e-mail at givensm@caller.com.
  
  

---

  © 2000 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.