King Solomon Rathel River House – Abandoned House

Although Marvel Rathel is not as well known as many other names in the architecture world, she designed and built some of the most distinctive homes in Jacksonville, Florida over three decades with her husband, King Solomon Rathel. Marvel Funderburk was born in Donalsonville, Georgia, on August 9, 1892. Marvel was the oldest of two girls and a boy born to farmer Robert Sample Beauegard Funderburk and Talula Adel “Lula” Mosely Funderburk.

Three years younger than Marvel, King Solomon Rathel was born in Donalsonville on September 30, 1895. Marvel attended high school, but King only attended school through the fifth grade. The couple married in the mid-1910s. King had a daughter, Lois, with a previous wife, Macy Cross. King and Marvel had no children together. King worked as a blacksmith employed by Josh Floyd Jr. During World War I, he was drafted to the U.S. Army in June 1918 and discharged in February 1919.

In 1920, the couple resided in Donalsonville. Marvel was employed as a seamstress while King remained employed as a blacksmith. City directories indicate that the Rathels arrived in Jacksonville around 1926. Jacksonville, which grew rapidly to more than 100,000 people in the midst of the Florida land boom, was quite the opposite of Donalsonville, a rural town of about 1,000 residents. According to census records, King’s daughter remained with family in Georgia.

In Jacksonville, the Rathels lived in an old red light district brothel converted into a rooming house at 623 Houston Street. King was employed as a body builder at W. C. Rivers Carriage Company at 205 Jefferson St., which specialized in auto body building, repairs, trimming, painting, welding and blacksmithing. By 1930, the Rathels had relocated from LaVilla to a residence north of town on Lem Turner Road.

Despite not having completed high school or being formally trained, the Rathels acquired property near the Trout River dirt cheap during the Great Depression and began a new career designing and building houses. A total of 15 masonry Art Deco houses were built by the Rathels between 1935 and 1974. Round corners, stucco exterior finishes, flat roofs, and decorative yet functional drainpipes are common design characteristics. Most of the houses are located on Trout River Boulevard and a few side streets in Riverview, near Lem Turner Road. The first house the Rathels completed in 1935 is located at 3319 Trout River Boulevard.

The Rathels would live in the homes while they built them. King would mix the concrete by hand in the yard. He had no equipment, just a shovel and an axe with few hand tools. King would lay the foundation and work his way up, eventually building scaffolding and wheelbarrowing cement up ramps. Marvel was as much a hard worker as King. She would help with the work and carry the block. The Rathels never advertised. People would pass by and see King building a house and ask him to build one for them. It is a bit of a mystery as to how the Rathels learned to build houses or how King came into his signature style. His style undoubtably was influenced by the post-Art Deco “Streamline Art Moderne” architecture that was pervasive in South Florida at the time, the Rathels’ houses deserve their own novel term, “Marine Deco.” This home, referred to as The River House, sits tucked away down an unpaved driveway off of Trout River Boulevard. Built in 1946, it sits lower than all of the other homes built by the couple. In the last 20 years, more than 13 families have rented the property. Due to its location, the home has suffered extensive water damage from tidal surges and flooding. The property was put up for sale in March 2024 and sold less than a month later for $212,000. It is currently undergoing a renovation.

Following the completion of their last house in Lake Forest in 1971, the Rathels moved back to their hometown of Donalsonville. King Solomon Rathel died on July 19, 1976, at the age of 80 from suicide in Jacksonville. Marvel Funderbunk Rathel died on February 8, 1983, at the age of 90 in Donalsonville. Both were buried side by side in Evergreen Cemetery in Jacksonville. Despite not being as famous as other names in Jacksonville’s architectural history, what Marvel and King Solomon built contributes greatly to Jacksonville’s Northside’s story, character, and identity.

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