Archive For August 25, 2017
Braeside, Ontario, Canada
Barber began publishing the John Gillies residence with the “Modern Dwellings” series of pattern books. And because the Gillies family was very prominent in that part of Canada and because Braeside is such a small town, I figured that finding this home, or some history about it, would be fairly easy. And yet, this home remains off the grid. I suspect that it was lost fairly early in its history because most historical resources that I have contacted about it, can’t remember anything about this particular home. Anyway, I am including this home here, in the MIA section, because I would still like to track this one down somehow. While I would love to uncover any old or historic photos of it, I would especially like to uncover where exactly, it was located when it existed. Any help along these lines would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Assiniboine Avenue at Carlton Street, Winnipeg, Canada
Thomas Kelly built his mansion as a testament to his skill and prominence as a contractor. He had quite the colorful past which you can read about here. This house was demolished in 1965 and all that remains are a few of the stone columns, located at the entry of the Kelly House apartments building that exists on the site today.
128 Bridge Street East, Belleville, Ontario, Canada
The Thompson residence was published by George Barber in the February 1898 edition of his “American Homes” magazine. This home was built in 1897.
62 Court Street, Weaverville, CA
A classic example of Barber’s design no. 43, as published in the third edition (1901) of the “Modern Dwellings” series of pattern books. I have never been inside the Daniel Hall residence, so I would love to get some photos of the interior of this gem, hint, hint.
New Haven, CT
Research to date has revealed that Edward Munson built a residence at 389 Whitney Avenue, right about the same time (1894) that Barber published that his design was constructed for Munson. Munson is listed as living at 389 Whitney, starting in 1895. The one problem is that the house that was built at that address, and the house that is still there now, doesn’t look anything like the Barber published illustrations in the “New Model Dwellings” series of pattern books. So, either Munson built another design, and Barber published his version of the Munson house anyway, or there is a bit of a mystery here. There were several other Munson family members in New Haven at that time, so perhaps the Barber design was intended for one of them, even though Edward appeared to be Barber’s client. Perhaps Edward simply chose not to build Barber’s design. But why then, did Barber publish in 1894, that this home “was recently completed”? My experience through the years has been that when Barber published that a house was built, you could bank on the fact that it was constructed. Anyway, I am including this home here, in the MIA section, because I would still like to track this one down somehow. Any help along these lines would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
707 N. Fifth Street, Vandalia, IL
The George Capps residence is an exceptional example of Barber’s most popular design. The infamous design no. 36, from the 1891 “Cottage Souvenir No. 2”.