17/07/2024
Back in the Day
Just about every time someone comes to visit me, or even when my children are here they make a remark about the lovely Victorian House that sits on Phelps Street in town. The house is a George F. Barber home built around the early 1900’s. The person who sold it in August of 2023 said she left a lot of the information about It with the new owner. I didn’t want to bother the new owner so I’ll just write few things about it here.
On one of the sites on the internet there was a buzz about it. On one site “Old House Dreams”, it was posted and there were some interesting comments about it.
Comment #1
Kelly, you just made my year! I have been looking for this specific home, for over 10 years now. Yes, this is a George F. Barber design, and yes Barber did publish it in some of his later pattern books, but Barber only mentioned that it was built in “Northern Michigan” so it has eluded me for so long. Now that you have found it, you can see that Barber’s idea of “northern” was not what was commonly thought of, as “northern Michigan”, which is largely why I could never track this one down. Anyway, I could not be happier to have finally located this gem. And what a gem it is. Aside from the new vinyl siding, this house retains much of its original character, although it is missing a rather unique balcony rail that could easily be replaced. Awesome, simply awesome. As always, thanks for posting.
Comment #2
Purists will not like the vinyl siding but I have to say I think it looks pretty good. Gorgeous interior although the kitchen layout would need some adjustment, the way the stove is stuck between the fridge and the wall. Really cool though and I love MI.
Comment #3
Wow! I thought Chris had discovered almost every extant Barber designed house in the country so I too am thrilled to see this heretofore unknown example. I would be curious to see what the published design looked like. (with the railing missing here) Lovely house overall…I especially like the Oriel type landing bay with its leaded glass windows. Vinyl siding can be removed but that could be a future project for the next owner(s) if wished to make it period perfect.
Comment #4
I’m surprised the siding is vinyl. Usually they can’t make it in darker colors (I think it has something to do with darker colors absorbing too much heat and warping). It really doesn’t look bad, although still not a practice that I would endorse for an old house.
George Franklin Barber (July 31, 1854 – February 17, 1915) was an American architect known for the house designs he marketed worldwide through mail-order catalogs. Barber was one of the most successful residential architects of the late Victorian period in the United States,[4] and his plans were used for houses in all 50 U.S. states, and in nations as far away as Japan and the Philippines.[4] Over four dozen Barber houses are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and several dozen more are listed as part of historic districts
Barber's early designs were modified versions of the Queen Anne style, which Barber liked to enrich with the addition of Romanesque elements.
Barber houses constructed in this period are characterized by features such imposing turrets, projecting windows, verandas flanked by circular pavilions, and Syrian arches.
What interested me most was who was the person who built this beautiful house, and what did the family do when living in Decatur. Frank W. Thomas (1866-1955) was the person who built the house, but it was his father S.N. Thomas who started the very successful hardware store in the 1800’s.
Sela N. Thomas (1836-1915) moved to Decatur in 1860 from New York. In 1872 the building on the corner of Phelps and Delaware street was erected and is Jackson Plumbing store now I believe. This business became one of the largest hardware businesses in this part of Michigan. In 1902 he retired and the business was taken over by his son Frank W. until 1917 when he sold it. It seems that furnaces were taking over the business of the Round Oak heaters and kitchen ranges and that Frank took up the new method of heating and had more work than he could handle, and in his desire to please his customers, he worked many hours, day or night. This is probably caused him to sell the business, and leave Decatur.
Frank’s first wife F***y died in 1910. Daughter Genevieve died at the age of 4 or 5; daughter Ruth died of typhoid in 1916 at the age of 23. His second wife Nora died in 1934. He left Decatur in 1917. It was written that when he left town he had a young son and he relocated in Kalamazoo.
I wish for the new family in this lovely house all the best, and a belated welcome to Decatur.
