BARBER, George Franklin (1854-1915) of Knoxville, Tenn. was the author of two pattern books of house designs published during the last decade of the nineteenth century. His first, The Cottage Souvenir: A Repository of Artistic Cottage Architecture and Miscellaneous Designs, was published in 1892 and was followed by New Model Dwellings and How Best to Build Them (Barber & Co., 1895). One of his residential designs has been located in Ontario. It was erected for George Moore, Ashwood Drive, PARRY SOUND, ONT. in 1900, and was likely based on a design extracted from these books (inf. from the Parry Sound Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee).
Barber later published Modern Dwellings: A Book of Practical Designs (1901) and edited a magazine entitled American Homes: A Journal Devoted to Planning, Building and Beautifying the Home, published regularly between 1902 and 1904. The firm of Barber & Kluttz, Knoxville, Tenn. are credited with the design of a Queen Anne style mansion for Thomas Cantley, NEW GLASGOW, N.S., 1903-04 (E. Pacey & A. Comiter, Landmarks: Historic Buildings of Nova Scotia, 1994, 184-5, illus.). They also designed a substantial residence for "T.F.Kelley" [sic] of WINNIPEG, MAN.,1906-07 (Western Architect (Minneapolis), xi, May 1908, illus.). This was likely for Thomas Kelly, the successful general contractor and owner of Thomas Kelly & Sons whose residence was located on Carlton Street at Assiniboine Avenue, Winnipeg. A biography of Barber can be found in Who's Who in Tennessee, 1911. He died in Knoxville, Tenn. on 17 February 1915 (obit. The Tennessean [Nashville], 18 Feb. 1915, 7).
VICTORIA, B.C., residence for Andrew Gray, 1908 (Victoria Heritage Foundation, This Old House: Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods, Vol. 1, 2013, 182-84, illus. & descrip.)