Charles I. Barber
Encyclopedia
Charles Irving Barber was an American architect, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee
, and vicinity, during the first half of the 20th century. He was cofounder of the firm, Barber & McMurry, through which he designed or codesigned buildings such as the Church Street Methodist Church, the General Building
, and the Knoxville YMCA, as well as several campus buildings for the University of Tennessee
and numerous elaborate houses in West Knoxville. Several buildings designed by Barber have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
The son of mail-order architect George Franklin Barber
, Charles Barber studied at the University of Pennsylvania
under Paul Cret
, from whom he absorbed the Beaux-Arts style. For most of his career, he primarily designed houses and religious structures, though he also designed schools, clubhouses and courthouses. During the 1930s and 1940s, Barber designed several structures for federal entities such as the Tennessee Valley Authority
and the Civilian Conservation Corps
.
, in 1887, though his parents relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee, when he was about a year old. He attended Knoxville's Baker-Himel School, and briefly attended the University of Tennessee
. In 1907, his father sent him on a tour of Greece
and Italy
, and continuously sought his advice on the proper design of Italian villas, which he used to remodel the home of General Lawrence Tyson
(now UT's Tyson Alumni House) that same year.
In 1909, Barber enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania. He studied under French-born architect Paul Cret, who was responsible for teaching the Beaux-Arts style to several notable architects in the early 20th century. The Beaux-Arts style would characterize much of Barber's early work. After receiving his Certificate of Proficiency in Architecture in 1911, he returned to Knoxville. Barber's first major work was the Southern States Building, which he designed for the National Conservation Exposition
in 1913. During this same period, he formed a partnership with Dean Parmelee (son of his father's partner, Martin Parmelee) to design Knoxville's First Christian Church, which was completed in 1914.
area, such as the homes of White Lily Flour founder J. Allen Smith (1915) and financier William Cary Ross (1921), both on Lyons View Pike, and the home of Alexander Bonnyman (1916) on Kingston Pike.
During the 1920s and early 1930s, Barber & McMurry designed some of Knoxville's most notable public and religious structures, including the Church Street Methodist Church (1931), the Knoxville YMCA (1927), the Candoro Marble Works
showroom (1923), the Holston Hills Country Club (1927), and Barber's lone high-rise, the 15-story General Building (1926). The firm also designed several buildings surrounding Ayres Hall atop the "Hill" at UT, most notably the Hoskins Library, Hesler Hall and Dabney Hall.
Barber & McMurry designed some of Knoxville's most elaborate houses in the late 1920s. These include Glen Craig (1926), built for Candoro Marble Works owner John C. Craig, Westcliff (1928), built for inventor Weston M. Fulton
, and the H.M. Goforth House (1928) on Lyons View Pike. The latter design was awarded the gold medal at the Southern Architecture and Industrial Arts Exposition in 1929.
During the 1930s, Barber turned his attention to the design of public buildings and houses for various federal entities that had begun operating in East Tennessee
. Barber worked with fellow architects Roland Wank
and Louis Grandgent for the Tennessee Valley Authority's Norris
project, and succeeded Wank as chief architect of the project in 1934. Barber's firm also designed the Riverdale School (1938) in eastern Knox County
and the headquarters for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
(1940), both built by the Civilian Conservation Corps
. In the 1940s and 1950s, Barber and McMurry designed several buildings for the Arrowmont
campus in Gatlinburg
.
. The firm, which currently operates under the name BarberMcMurry, has since transitioned to larger-scale development projects.
At his height, Barber was considered the leading practitioner of the Beaux-Arts style in the South. Several of Barber's designs have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, either individually or as contributing properties in historic districts. Many of his surviving houses in West Knoxville have been given historic overlay protection by the Knox County Historic Zoning Commission. Notable losses include Westcliff (demolished 1967), the William Cary Ross House (demolished 1969), the Goforth House (demolished 1982)., and the J. Allen Smith House (demolished 2004).
Three houses constructed on Lyons View Pike in Knoxville illustrate Barber's range of style. The J. Allen Smith House (1915), one of Barber's earliest residential designs, was a primarily Italian Renaissance design, and featured two large chimneys, a tiled roof, and arched loggias. The N.E. Logan House (1929) is a Tudor-style home built to resemble an English Cotswold Cottage, with fieldstone and cedar exterior, thick walls and solid pine interior doors. The Hal Mebanes House (1931), which stands adjacent to the Logan house, is built in the Georgian Revival style, with brick veneer walls, cedar shingles, marble arched entrance, and a rear loggia looking out over the Tennessee River
and the mountains beyond.
Westcliff, Fulton's mansion, was one of Barber's largest domestic undertakings. The house's design, a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque influences, was consistently modified as Fulton continuously changed his preferences. The exterior walls were sheathed in crab orchard stone on the lower floors and stucco on the upper floors, all under a tiled roof. The roof contained a garden flanked by an imposing domed gazebo. The interior consisted of vaulted corridors connected by octagonal lobbies, with arcaded loggias on the west and south sides. An elevator accessed a third-story ballroom and the roof garden.
.
Barber's grandest church design is the Gothic-style Church Street Methodist Church (1931), which was codesigned with New York architect John Russell Pope
. The church, the congregation of which Barber was a member, features an imposing bell tower, central courtyard, and interior arcades. The respective roles of Barber and Pope in the church's design are unknown. Other churches designed by Barber in the Gothic style, though on a much smaller scale, include the First Methodist Church in Gatlinburg and Barton Chapel in the Robbins community
of Scott County.
Barber and McMurry designed several school buildings, most notably the Riverdale School in east Knox County and the Sequoyah Elementary School in Sequoyah Hills, the latter of which is still in use (though it has been expanded). For buildings designed for the University of Tennessee in the early 1930s, the firm used a modified "campus" Gothic style to match Ayres Hall, which stands at the center of the "Hill."
In 1923, Barber designed a showroom and garage for the Candoro Marble Works. The showroom is built of marble blocks, and contains extensive marble ornamentation. Barber also designed the adjacent Spanish Colonial-style garage, which features a tiled roof and exterior walls that consist of marble and stucco. Other Barber works include the Holston Hills Country Club (1927), the Christenberry Clubhouse (1936), and the Colonial-style Ossoli Circle Clubhouse (1933). One of Barber's simplest works was the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club Cabin, which the club (of which Barber was a member) assembled in 1934 from the logs of a dismantled pioneer cabin.
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, and vicinity, during the first half of the 20th century. He was cofounder of the firm, Barber & McMurry, through which he designed or codesigned buildings such as the Church Street Methodist Church, the General Building
General Building
The General Building, also called the Tennessee General Building or the First Bank Building, is an office high-rise located in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Constructed in the mid-1920s, the 15-story building is the only high-rise designed by Charles I...
, and the Knoxville YMCA, as well as several campus buildings for the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
and numerous elaborate houses in West Knoxville. Several buildings designed by Barber have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
The son of mail-order architect George Franklin Barber
George Franklin Barber
George Franklin Barber was an American architect best known for his residential designs, which he marketed worldwide through a series of mail-order catalogs. One of the most successful domestic architects of the late Victorian period in the United States, Barber's plans were used for houses in...
, Charles Barber studied at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
under Paul Cret
Paul Philippe Cret
Paul Philippe Cret was a French-American architect and industrial designer. For more than thirty years, he headed the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.- Biography :...
, from whom he absorbed the Beaux-Arts style. For most of his career, he primarily designed houses and religious structures, though he also designed schools, clubhouses and courthouses. During the 1930s and 1940s, Barber designed several structures for federal entities such as the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
and the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
.
Early life and career
Barber was born in DeKalb, IllinoisDeKalb, Illinois
DeKalb is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 at the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated German war hero Johann De Kalb, who died during the American Revolutionary War....
, in 1887, though his parents relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee, when he was about a year old. He attended Knoxville's Baker-Himel School, and briefly attended the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
. In 1907, his father sent him on a tour of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and continuously sought his advice on the proper design of Italian villas, which he used to remodel the home of General Lawrence Tyson
Lawrence Tyson
Lawrence Davis Tyson was an American general, politician and textile manufacturer, operating primarily out of Knoxville, Tennessee, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He commanded the 59th Brigade of the 30th Infantry during World War I, and served as a Democratic United States...
(now UT's Tyson Alumni House) that same year.
In 1909, Barber enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania. He studied under French-born architect Paul Cret, who was responsible for teaching the Beaux-Arts style to several notable architects in the early 20th century. The Beaux-Arts style would characterize much of Barber's early work. After receiving his Certificate of Proficiency in Architecture in 1911, he returned to Knoxville. Barber's first major work was the Southern States Building, which he designed for the National Conservation Exposition
National Conservation Exposition
The National Conservation Exposition was an exposition held in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, between September 1, 1913 and November 1, 1913. The exposition celebrated the cause of bringing national attention to conservation activities, especially in the Southeastern United States...
in 1913. During this same period, he formed a partnership with Dean Parmelee (son of his father's partner, Martin Parmelee) to design Knoxville's First Christian Church, which was completed in 1914.
Barber & McMurry
In 1915, Barber, along with his cousin, David West Barber, and fellow Penn alumnus, Benjamin McMurry (1885–1969), founded the firm Barber & McMurry. The firm's early work focused on houses for affluent Knoxvillians in the Sequoyah HillsSequoyah Hills, Tennessee
Sequoyah Hills is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, located off Kingston Pike between the city's downtown area and West Knoxville. Initially developed in the 1920s, Sequoyah Hills was one of Knoxville's first suburbs, and today is home to some of the city's most affluent residents...
area, such as the homes of White Lily Flour founder J. Allen Smith (1915) and financier William Cary Ross (1921), both on Lyons View Pike, and the home of Alexander Bonnyman (1916) on Kingston Pike.
During the 1920s and early 1930s, Barber & McMurry designed some of Knoxville's most notable public and religious structures, including the Church Street Methodist Church (1931), the Knoxville YMCA (1927), the Candoro Marble Works
Candoro Marble Works
The Candoro Marble Works is a marble cutting and polishing facility located in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Established as a subsidiary of the John J. Craig Company in 1914, the facility's marble products were used in the construction of numerous monumental buildings across the United States during...
showroom (1923), the Holston Hills Country Club (1927), and Barber's lone high-rise, the 15-story General Building (1926). The firm also designed several buildings surrounding Ayres Hall atop the "Hill" at UT, most notably the Hoskins Library, Hesler Hall and Dabney Hall.
Barber & McMurry designed some of Knoxville's most elaborate houses in the late 1920s. These include Glen Craig (1926), built for Candoro Marble Works owner John C. Craig, Westcliff (1928), built for inventor Weston M. Fulton
Weston Fulton
Weston Miller Fulton was an American meteorologist, inventor, and entrepreneur, best known for his invention, the "sylphon," a seamless metal bellows used in thermostats, switches, and other temperature-control devices. Fulton also invented an automatic river gauge while working for the U.S...
, and the H.M. Goforth House (1928) on Lyons View Pike. The latter design was awarded the gold medal at the Southern Architecture and Industrial Arts Exposition in 1929.
During the 1930s, Barber turned his attention to the design of public buildings and houses for various federal entities that had begun operating in East Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
. Barber worked with fellow architects Roland Wank
Roland Wank
Roland A. Wank was a Hungarian modernist architect, best known for his work for the Tennessee Valley Authority in the United States.Wank was educated at the Royal Joseph Technical University in Budapest...
and Louis Grandgent for the Tennessee Valley Authority's Norris
Norris, Tennessee
Norris is a city in Anderson County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 1,446 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
project, and succeeded Wank as chief architect of the project in 1934. Barber's firm also designed the Riverdale School (1938) in eastern Knox County
Knox County, Tennessee
Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its 2007 population was estimated at 423,874 by the United States Census Bureau. Its county seat is Knoxville, as it has been since the creation of the county. The county is at the geographical center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee...
and the headquarters for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a United States National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site that straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. The border between Tennessee and North...
(1940), both built by the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
. In the 1940s and 1950s, Barber and McMurry designed several buildings for the Arrowmont
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
The Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is an arts and crafts center in the U.S. city of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The oldest craft school in Tennessee, Arrowmont offers workshops in arts and crafts such as painting, woodworking, glassblowing, photography, basket weaving, and metalworking, and...
campus in Gatlinburg
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Gatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Gatlinburg had a population of 3,828. The city is a popular vacation resort, as it rests on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along U.S...
.
Legacy
Barber died in 1962, and is buried in the Barber family plot in Knoxville's Greenwood Cemetery. In 1976, Barber & McMurry's work was the subject of an exhibition at Knoxville's Dulin Art GalleryKnoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art is a contemporary art museum located at 1050 World's Fair Park in Knoxville, Tennessee. The KMA is committed to developing exhibitions by emerging artists of national and international reputation.- History :...
. The firm, which currently operates under the name BarberMcMurry, has since transitioned to larger-scale development projects.
At his height, Barber was considered the leading practitioner of the Beaux-Arts style in the South. Several of Barber's designs have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, either individually or as contributing properties in historic districts. Many of his surviving houses in West Knoxville have been given historic overlay protection by the Knox County Historic Zoning Commission. Notable losses include Westcliff (demolished 1967), the William Cary Ross House (demolished 1969), the Goforth House (demolished 1982)., and the J. Allen Smith House (demolished 2004).
Houses
Barber's residential designs typically consisted of Beaux-Arts elements incorporated into traditional architectural styles, such as Tudor, Gothic, or Renaissance. While his works bear little stylistic resemblance to his father's Late Victorian and Colonial houses, his designs reveal an emphasis on proportion and harmony with nature that characterized his father's architectural philosophy. In a typical Charles Barber house, chimneys and fireplaces are emphasized, openings are richly ornamented, and materials for roofs and walls are carefully chosen for color and texture.Three houses constructed on Lyons View Pike in Knoxville illustrate Barber's range of style. The J. Allen Smith House (1915), one of Barber's earliest residential designs, was a primarily Italian Renaissance design, and featured two large chimneys, a tiled roof, and arched loggias. The N.E. Logan House (1929) is a Tudor-style home built to resemble an English Cotswold Cottage, with fieldstone and cedar exterior, thick walls and solid pine interior doors. The Hal Mebanes House (1931), which stands adjacent to the Logan house, is built in the Georgian Revival style, with brick veneer walls, cedar shingles, marble arched entrance, and a rear loggia looking out over the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
and the mountains beyond.
Westcliff, Fulton's mansion, was one of Barber's largest domestic undertakings. The house's design, a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque influences, was consistently modified as Fulton continuously changed his preferences. The exterior walls were sheathed in crab orchard stone on the lower floors and stucco on the upper floors, all under a tiled roof. The roof contained a garden flanked by an imposing domed gazebo. The interior consisted of vaulted corridors connected by octagonal lobbies, with arcaded loggias on the west and south sides. An elevator accessed a third-story ballroom and the roof garden.
Churches
Barber designed or codesigned over 50 churches in his career. His earliest church, the First Christian Church (1914) on Fifth Avenue, contains Neoclassical and Romanesque elements. The church's dominant feature is its projecting pedimented portico, which is supported by Ionic columns. In 1929, Barber designed adjacent Sunday school and office buildings for the church, as well as a central courtyard with arcaded walkways connecting the three buildings. All three buildings are now contributing properties in the Emory Place Historic DistrictEmory Place Historic District
The Emory Place Historic District is a historic district in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, located just north of the city's downtown area. The district consists of several commercial, residential, religious, and public buildings that developed around a late nineteenth century train and trolley...
.
Barber's grandest church design is the Gothic-style Church Street Methodist Church (1931), which was codesigned with New York architect John Russell Pope
John Russell Pope
John Russell Pope was an architect most known for his designs of the National Archives and Records Administration building , the Jefferson Memorial and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.-Biography:Pope was born in New York in 1874, the son of a successful...
. The church, the congregation of which Barber was a member, features an imposing bell tower, central courtyard, and interior arcades. The respective roles of Barber and Pope in the church's design are unknown. Other churches designed by Barber in the Gothic style, though on a much smaller scale, include the First Methodist Church in Gatlinburg and Barton Chapel in the Robbins community
Robbins, Tennessee
Robbins is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Scott County, Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, its population is 287.-Notable people:...
of Scott County.
Other buildings
Barber's lone high-rise, the Second Renaissance Revival-style General Building (commonly called the First Bank Building after its current anchor tenant), was completed in 1926. The first three stories of the building's South Market and Church Avenue facades are coated in limestone veneer, with three monumental arched openings facing South Market. The building's first-floor bank lobby, which includes a mezzanine and vaulted ceilings, is the most impressive interior feature. Barber & McMurry's offices were located in the building from its completion until 1934.Barber and McMurry designed several school buildings, most notably the Riverdale School in east Knox County and the Sequoyah Elementary School in Sequoyah Hills, the latter of which is still in use (though it has been expanded). For buildings designed for the University of Tennessee in the early 1930s, the firm used a modified "campus" Gothic style to match Ayres Hall, which stands at the center of the "Hill."
In 1923, Barber designed a showroom and garage for the Candoro Marble Works. The showroom is built of marble blocks, and contains extensive marble ornamentation. Barber also designed the adjacent Spanish Colonial-style garage, which features a tiled roof and exterior walls that consist of marble and stucco. Other Barber works include the Holston Hills Country Club (1927), the Christenberry Clubhouse (1936), and the Colonial-style Ossoli Circle Clubhouse (1933). One of Barber's simplest works was the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club Cabin, which the club (of which Barber was a member) assembled in 1934 from the logs of a dismantled pioneer cabin.
See also
- Baumann family (architects)Baumann family (architects)The Baumann family was a family of American architects who practiced in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the surrounding region, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It included Joseph F. Baumann , his brother, Albert B. Baumann, Sr. , and Albert's son, Albert B. Baumann, Jr....
- R. F. GrafR. F. GrafRichard Franklin Graf was an American architect, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the vicinity, in the early 20th century. His works include Stratford Mansion , Sterchi Lofts , St. John's Lutheran Church , and the Journal Arcade . His home, the Prairie School-inspired Graf-Cullum...
- Thomas HopeThomas Hope (architect)Thomas Hope was an English-born American architect and house joiner, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Trained in London, Hope moved to Knoxville in 1795, where he designed and built several of the city's earliest houses...
- Bruce McCartyBruce McCartyBruce McCarty, FAIA is an American architect, founder and senior designer at McCarty Holsaple McCarty Architects of Knoxville, Tennessee. During a career that has spanned more than a half-century, he has designed some of the city's iconic landmarks, and has been the city's most dedicated...