The Historic Cloud-Kingsbery House
Historical Designation & House Today
The house, located at the corner of Travis Heights Boulevard and Riverside Drive, is one of the oldest homes in the Travis Heights neighborhood. It is a local landmark due to its unusual and pronounced architecture and it’s prominent location facing Riverside.
The house is very well preserved on the exterior, with its original roofline and footprint. Almost all of the original divided light double hung windows are intact. It occupies its original sizable lot, the front of which was nearly doubled due to a quirk in the route of Riverside Drive. The architecture is unusual and charming, a combination of Dutch Colonial Revival and Craftsman. The roof gables are “kicked” out and the fascia is ornamented with a scalloped detail. Exposed ornamental roof brackets frame each roof gable. A large bay window sits at the front of the formal dining room. Above the bay, the upper gable sits out over the cut back walls around the bay, creating a pronounced European touch. The windows have divided light upper sashes and virtually all are the original glass and sashes.
Exterior photos taken in the houses’ early history show very little differences from the current house. A few differences are original front stairs and small curving details at the points of the roof that extended above the roofline like the prow of a ship. One window appears to have a built in window box.
The interior of the house is partially preserved. The original wood coffered ceilings are still in the foyer and dining room, as well as the double pocket doors separate these two rooms. The original five panel doors remain throughout the house.
Ground Breaking
The permit to run water to this parcel of land was granted in 1917.
The house was completed in 1919.
Ownership
1919-1927 Fred and Mary Cloud
1927 Terrel Bryson
1928 Paul Pfiefer
1929 Bertha Parsley
1930-1931 J.O. Baggett
1932-1934 Mutual Deposit and Loan, Vacant
1935 Reverend J.F. Peachey
1936-1943 Everett and Ora Kingsbery
1944-1954 P Caruso
1955-1958 Dani Imbriaco
1959-1960 Frank Lopez
1961-1971 James Lavender
1972-1973 George Bernard Blomquist
1974-1982 William Casher
1983-1989 Michael Adams
1990-1995 Mile Boban
1995-2004 Steve Harsch and Rebecca Wagner
2005-2009 Robert & Kim Gotchall
2010-Present Bess Giannakakis and Blaise Bahara
The Clouds
The builder and first owner of the house was Fred G. Cloud (1872-1930) who started at the post office as a clerk and rose to assistant superintendent of mails by 1927. Fred was married to Mary Kennedy Cloud who was active in the community and worked for many years as a curator at the Texas Republic Museum.
Fed and Mary Cloud build the house at 1001 E. Riverside Dr and took up residency in 1919. They had three children, Fred Jr., Mary Travis and Frances Allen. The Clouds played host to many events, including many birthday parties and recitals for their children.
The Clouds took a photo of the children in front of the house at the time of a winter snow. All three children and a few dogs can be seen. (See photo in entryway of main house.)
Fred was the son of Samuel and Grandin Cloud (1848-1888) and Lucy Neal Ellis. Fred’s grandfather was John Wurts Clout (1797-1850), son of Adam Cloud, a founder of Brazoria Colony and a contemporary of Stephen F. Austin. Adam Cloud and his son John Wurts Cloud were the first Clouds to move out from Delaware. John Wurts Cloud was a Yale graduate and an Episcopal minister, the first in the area.
Fred was well liked, as mentioned in the Statesman, and was said to be affable, genial and always greeted visitors with a cordial welcome. He was a volunteer fireman and once broke his collarbone when the fire horses were startled and drove the carriage against him.
Fred and Mary were active in the community in the 20’s as shown in several mentions in the society pages. Not coincidentally, Mary spent some time as the society editor of the Austin Statesman. Mary was profiled in the March 2nd 1924 issue of the Statesmen. The article dealt with the issue of the day – of women and wives and mothers – in the workplace. She enthusiastically endorsed the idea of women working:
“In the not very dim and distant past a career for woman meant not just simply doing well the thing that was satisfying and would bring to her economic independence – it meant the pinnacle of fame reached by following some particular line of endeavor, hazardous and full of hardships, open only to the women of genius. Few were the women with a multitude of duties constantly calling them from the great highway of success, into first one and then another bypath, who ever aspired to fame or had the courage to seek a career. For a long time women seemed to cling to the idea that they were born to do certain things in life and because a departure from the beaten path often subjected them to severe criticism and undue publicity, many capable women carried with them to the grave cherished ambitions to do something worthwhile – something different. A dyed-in-the-wool convention made them cowards.”
But she defended the idea that some readers would clearly meet with hostility:“Children of women with wide interests are more carefully brought up, probably because the mothers realize that, like minister’s sons, they are eternally under inspection.”
For 28 years Mary was curator of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Museum, located on the capital grounds. In the 1920’s she was the Society Editor for the Austin Statesman. For eight years she served as the State Secretary of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (William B Travis chapter). She was also a charter member of the Altrusa Club and the Austin Kwill Klub, as well as secretary of the PTA and charter member of the Austin League of Women Voters.
Mrs. Cloud was a friend of the biographer of Clara Driscoll, the “Savior of the Alamo” and lifelong member of the Daughters of the Confederacy. Clara also gifted Laguna Gloria to the Texas Fine Arts Association and paid off indebtedness of the Federated Women’s Club Building.
Mary passed away at the age of 78 in 1955.
Other Owners in the Early Years
In January 1927 the Clouds swapped houses with Terrell A. and Mary Bryson, moving to 1807 Colorado Street.
Mr. Bryson was a bookkeeper at a motor car company.
The Bryson’s sold to Mrs Bertha Parsley, widow of W.L. Parsley. The Parsleys were owners of WL Parsley One Day Service Cleaning – Pressing and hatter of 310 Congress Ave.
James Bagget, who owned JO Baggett Realty, purchased the house in 1928.
In 1931 the house was repossessed by the Mutual Deposit and Loan.
The house was vacant for most of the next five years, although the city directory lists Rev. John F. Peachey and Pearl Peachey as residents in 1935. Reverend Peachey was the Pastor of the South Austin Baptist Church at 1511 S. Congress.
E.G. Kingsbery
In 1937 the house was purchased by Mr Everett George “E.G.” Kingsbery, the long time manager of Texan Hotel, located at 121 W. 7th Street. The hotel was demolished in 1969.
Mr Kingsbery was a millionaire entrepreneur who participated in many industries, including oil and gas and real estate. At one time he owned 14 Texas hotels, among them the Texan. He was on the Board of Directors of the Austin Chamber of Commerce during 1941 and 1942.
Mr Kingsbery was one of the founders of the Austin Savings and Loan, Featherlite Corporation and KHFI Television, the forerunner of KXAN, the modern NBC affiliate. He died in 1980 at the age of 91.
The Recent Years
The house became rental property in 1947 and was split into two units in 1952. It remained rental property until 1996. During a period in 1991 the Oxford House organization rented the property for use as a women’s Addiction Rehabilitation Center.
In 1996 the house was purchased by Kelly Wagner and Steve Harsch. They began renovations.
In 2005 Robert and Kim Gotchall purchased the home. They eliminated the apartment divisions and restored the basic structure of the home. The downstairs living room was created from a small study and a bedroom. A circle driveway, originally right behind the house, was replaced with lawn and they built the structure in the back of the lot as a garage, apartment and workspace. In 2006 they obtained City Historical status for the Cloud-Kingsbery house.
Bess Giannakakis and Blaise Bahara purchased the home in 2010. To date, they have designed and installed the pool/spa, remodeled the back building spaces (creating The Carriage House, The Studio and The Loft), remodeled the kitchen and made significant progress on extensive landscaping. Plans for the future include more landscaping on the entire property and some wonderful bathroom remodels – and that’s just for starters!