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Tuesday, June 6, 2000

Bed, breakfast, a peek at early Corpus Christi
The former home of a city founding father has been restored as good as 1900-new

David Adame/Caller-Times

Tracey Smith, owner and innkeeper of the George Blucher House Bed and Breakfast Inn, stands in front of the newly remodeled building. Smith tried to return the house to its turn-of-the-century charm during 12 months of work on the house at the corner of Carrizo and Blucher streets.

Step into the George Blucher House Bed and Breakfast Inn and you'll step into a part of Corpus Christi's history.
   The former home to one of Corpus Christi's founding families officially opened its doors last week as a place for visitors to call home while they are in the city.
   Remodeling the house to the luster of its turn-of-the-century charm has been the realization of a 15-year dream for innkeeper Tracey Smith.
   Since last June when she bought the house, the interior designer honed the traits of the house that resemble yesteryear: coal-burning fireplaces, original poured-glass windows and a doorbell that rings when you turn a knob on the center of the door.
   She washed the walls in strong reds, blues and yellows and reused the wood from a nearby building to create some of the cabinets in the house. Smith's home still has the original long-leaf pine floors and cypress siding. She added brass-plated door hinges, stained-glass windows and light fixtures from France and Belgium. The rooms are decorated alternately in French country and Victorian themes.
   Smith intertwined her own personal history with Blucher's. Much of the furniture is from her own antique collection, and guests eat breakfast on her great-grandmother's china. The same great-grandmother's paintings adorn the walls. The Victorian home, built in 1904, is one of five built for the children of George and Alice von Blucher. The Bluchers raised six children at the home that is now at the corner of Carrizo and Blucher streets. The rooms for rent in the bed and breakfast are named after Arthur, Jasper, Pearl, Annie, Nellie and Julius von Blucher.
   Each room has its own identity. Some open to a balcony with a hammock and Adirondack chairs; others can catch the trickle of a fountained koi pond below. At the end of one art-lined hallway is a chapel.
   The house is encircled with a white fence in which each of the 800 pickets was hand-carved to resemble the original fence. Some 80 antique rose bushes grow in the gardens within it.
   The rooms range from $100 to $150 per night.
   Mall plans scrapped

David Adame/Caller-Times

The George Blucher House Bed and Breakfast Inn, once the home of one of Corpus Christi's founding fathers, has new brass-plated door hinges and stained-glass windows, but still has the original long-leaf pine floors.

   Plans for an upscale strip mall at the former Courtesy Ford location on Staples Street have been scrapped and the land is for sale, said David Richter, architect for the project.
   Jewelry store owner Marie Colson purchased the land at 4601 S. Staples St. and had plans to build a shopping center. One reason the plan was scrapped was the construction cost, Richter said. While construction costs are on par with the rest of the state, the Corpus Christi rental market commands a substantially lower lease rate than other cities, he said.
   "It's not bad times, but it's not development times," Richter said.
   Hurricane preparation

David Adame/Caller-Times

Each of the bedrooms for rent in the George Blucher House Bed and Breakfast Inn is named after one of Blucher's six children. The bedrooms are decorated in either French country or Victorian themes.

   To help people prepare for hurricane season, the MetLife Consumer Education Center has published two free brochures - "Preparing for Hurricanes" and "Preparing for Floods." "Preparing for Hurricanes" encourages evacuation planning, taking a home inventory and reading and understanding an insurance policy.
   "Preparing for Floods" includes instructions on creating a disaster supply kit and on what to do during and after a flood.
   The brochures are free by calling 1-800-638-5433.



Business reporter Andrea Jares can be reached at 886-3678 or by email at jaresa@caller.com. On Real Estate is published every other Tuesday in the business section.

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