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.