GFB01 Renaissance is ornamented with a multitude of brackets,  turn spindles and bay windows.   It retains the same basic floor plan as Design #36 in Barber's The Cottage Souvenir No. 2.   George Franklin Barber was born in DeKalb County,  Illinois in 1854.   In 1859,  George's mother Cornelia moved her children to Kansas,  having traded her farm for one there.   George Barber's interest in architecture began early in his life.   According to a journal kept by his niece,  Alice Barber Whitmore, Uncle George was forever reading books on architecture,  even while out plowing fields.   In 1878,  Barber is listed on the tax rolls of Kansas as a "carpenter."

GFB02 The Phillippi Home is not only a Barber house,  it was,  in fact,  the residence of George F. Barber from 1890 to 1897.   Although it has lost its fancy chimneys,  distinctive turrets and roof cresting,  the house is still clearly recognizable as Design #60 in The Cottage Souvenir No. 2 catalog.

GFB03 This home now known as the Newton Home was designed by George F. Barber,  one of Knoxville's most prominent late Victorian architects.   The Newton Home is believed to have been built in 1892.   Barber moved from Illinois to Knoxville in 1888 with his wife and newborn son.   It was here in Knoxville where Barber actually started his own mail-order catalogs of architectural homes.   Upon his first partnership in 1892 with J.C. White,  of the Edgewood Land Improvement Company,  a number of Barber homes were designed and built in Knoxville.   Barber homes have been documented in almost every state,  Canada,  Japan,  Europe,  and Africa.

GFB04 Pine Crest in Old North Knoxville,  was built in 1900 for W.J. Lang,  manager of Brookside Mill.   The house is design #213 from George F. Barber book Modern Dwellings.   The feature that is most noticeable and unusual is the stained glass window in the fireplace.   The flue divides and passes on either side of the window,  protecting it from the heat and fire.   Pine crest sits on top of a hill with its view of the Smokey Mountains blocked by two huge magnolia trees.

GFB05 Jeremiah Nunan,  a successful merchant,  miner and rancher,  bought design #43 from George Barber as a Christmas present for his wife,  Delia.   The cost of the kit,  which included the house and carriage house,  was $7,800.   This included freight ,  from Knoxville,  TN,  materials and labor.   George Barber also sent a foreman along to supervise construction of his kit.   Barber advertised the Nunan House as an example of his best work.   The polychrome paint scheme,  red brick and pressed stone are all authentic.