Corpus Christi's iconic 'castle house' Ocean Drive has a new owner ... who has big plans

Corpus Christi's iconic "castle house" on Ocean Drive is off the market.

And in about four years, it'll look quite a bit different.

The tan waterfront home, fashioned with a conic turret reminiscent of a "Lord of the Rings" backdrop, was sold March 6 to the nonprofit Ed Rachal Foundation for $2.5 million.

The foundation also recently bought the home next door that belonged to the family of Howard E. Butt, founder of the H-E-B grocery chain. It plans to eventually redevelop both properties into high-end townhomes or patio homes, each selling for "north of $1 million."

"It's a very nice and unique location. We intend to have a very appropriate and upscale development there," Paul D. Altheide, secretary of the foundation's board of directors, told the Caller-Times Tuesday.

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Based in Corpus Christi, the foundation was created in 1965 by an endowment from rancher and cattleman Ed Rachal's will to "benefit charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes in the state of Texas."

The foundation's redevelopment plans are very much in their infancy; Altheide said there are no project designs yet, and that it may be four years before "dirt is turned over on the site."

Altheide said the house will be "disassembled" as part of the redevelopment, and the Butt family home would be kept as a meeting center for other nonprofits.

Combining the two properties gives the foundation roughly six acres to work with. The foundation is considering building "no more than 20 townhomes" on the parcels.

"We're not looking to bring high-volume living to the area, like apartments. We want it (development) to be an enhancement, not something that diminishes the area," he said.

The Harbor Bridge and the twin towers of One Shoreline Plaza are most certainly among Corpus Christi's most distinctive landmarks.

A case, however, could be made this historic stone house, at Ocean Drive and Doddridge Street, also gets its share of notice from tourists, looky-loos and the downright curious.

SEE HOW THE HOUSE LOOKS INSIDE

Richard Colley, the architect behind many of Corpus Christi's landmarks, including the old Memorial Coliseum, designed the five-bedroom, 6,900-square-foot house. It was built in 1937, and even features a tunnel that runs underneath Ocean Drive and empties at the shoreline.

Castle intruders be warned: The tunnel was sealed years ago.

The house belonged to philanthropist Ada Laverne Rogers Wilson, the flamboyant socialite who started the Ada Wilson Hospital for Crippled Children. Her efforts to create it, along with the legal odyssey involving her land on Mustang Island, were chronicled in a 2014 column by local historian Murphy Givens.

It was after her oil man husband Sam Wilson's death in 1957 that she learned he was descended from royalty. Ada Wilson then decided to construct the tower to give the home a regal, castle-like appearance.

Ada Wilson died in 1977.

Appraisal district records show the home changed hands several times over the years. Irma Maria Liscano, the most-recent owner, acquired the house in 2000 in a divorce settlement with her husband, Corpus Christi lawyer Daniel Alfaro.

Liscano put it on the market in March 2017, for an asking price of $2.7 million. Various real estate websites show the property was sold six weeks ago.

Nueces County Appraisal District records show the foundation has spent an additional $2.5 million the last 13 months to buy other property.

Among them were the former Morgan Avenue Baptist Church on Corpus Christi's northside, a Bank of America branch in downtown and a property on Mustang Island that once belonged to the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

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