A long-unopened box of holiday cards reveals startling designs from a past era
For close to 90 years, a box containing unopened Christmas cards, many depicting rich, stylish illustrations, was found in the attic of an old house off Alcoa Highway in South Knoxville. The Christmas cards were addressed to the man who actually designed that house, Charles Barber (1887-1962), one of Knoxville’s most renowned architects.
Charles Barber (1887-1962), from “Men of Affairs in Knoxville, 1917. (KHP).
Barber was co-founder of the architectural firm Barber McMurry and was known as one of Knoxville’s most prolific architects of his era (1915-1960). Born near Chicago, he grew up in the Parkridge area of East Knoxville, and during his early adulthood, lived downtown on Locust Street.
Charles’ father was George Barber (1854-1915), probably the best-known architect who ever lived in Knoxville. Originally from Dekalb, Ill., just west of Chicago, George Barber moved to Knoxville in 1888. He and partners led the development of the area soon to be known as Park City in East Knoxville, now called Parkridge. Most famous for his elaborate Victorian flourishes, George Barber’s work often features what has been described as “exuberant spindlework designs.” He designed many houses in Knoxville and also across the nation. As one of America’s first successful mail-order-design architects, George Barber houses are now prized from Oregon to Texas to Massachusetts.
His son Charles, following in his father’s footsteps, established himself as a young architect of note, by the 1920s in high demand designing houses, schools, and buildings on the University of Tennessee campus, often in his signature gothic revivalist style.
During that decade he designed the distinctive downtown YMCA building, followed by the cathedral-like Church Street Methodist Church. Other buildings include the extraordinary Candoro Marble building in Vestal in South Knoxville. Recently restored by the Aslan Foundation, that building was originally the headquarters for the Candoro Marble Company and stands as a fine Italianate take on the Beaux-Arts architectural style, and a unique showcase of Tennessee marble. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building serves as a community arts and heritage center.
The 1920s Charles Barber-designed YMCA building at Clinch Ave and Locust Street. (KHP.)
Other notable examples of his work include the “Tudor Revival-style” Westmoreland Water Wheel and gatehouse on Westland Drive and Westmoreland Boulevard also dating to the 1920s.
Barber’s architectural style often featured medieval flourishes as evident in Hoskins Library on UT campus, built in 1931. That stylish building on Cumberland Avenue incorporates a castellated tower, cathedral windows, and gargoyle-like concrete ornaments on the entrance. Inside, the building’s grand stone staircase and high ceilings make it one of the most picturesque historical interiors in Knoxville. It could almost pass for the set of a Douglas Fairbanks movie.
Gargoyle-like character on Hoskins Library entrance. (KHP.)
In December last year, Jack Neely, Executive Director of the Knoxville History Project, sat down with Chaz Barber, a descendant of Charles Barber along with and real estate agent Jennifer Montgomery, whom the owner of the house entrusted the box of cards. Many of the designs were pure 1930s designs, and wouldn’t have been designed like that in any other era.
A few of the senders didn’t even write Barber’s complete address on the envelope and they still were delivered. For a period of about 20 years, he lived on Tazewell Pike in the Beverly community near Fountain City. It was this address that was handwritten on some of the envelopes found in the box. Some just listed “Charles Barber, Knoxville, Tenn.”
Why did Barber never open these envelopes? We will likely never know the reason, but a good guess may be that he was just too busy. In 1937, when these envelopes were sent, he was at the peak of his career.
Several of the cards were sent by his vendors. However, one card was sent by one of his fellow Smoky Mountains Hiking Club friends, botany professor, Harry “Doc” Jennison, inviting Barber to join him on a bear census in the mountains. Barber was a supporter of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park movement in the 1920s, and along with his brother, George, Jr. helped found the hiking club in 1924 under the auspices of the YMCA.
Now all these years later, we can still enjoy these Christmas cards this holiday season, not only as fine artistic examples of the 1930s, but also as a fascinating look into the life of a talented Knoxvillian who created much of the distinctive look of our city.
By Paul James and Jack Neely
This article was first published in West Knoxville Lifestyle magazine, December 2024.
You can view a recording of an hour-long look at this collection with Jack Neely online as part of KHP’s “recorded Zoom talks,” here: Startling Situations: Knoxville at Christmastime 1923”
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