LAST George Franklin Barber House in Texarkana - Texarkana, TX - Last of its Kind on Waymarking.com

The house is a Recorded Historic Texas Landmark, and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. The 1997 Texas Historical Marker by the door provides just a hint of this house's significance:

The last of three nearly identical homes built in Texarkana, the Earl-Rochelle house was constructed in 1899 for realtor and merchant John W. Earl (1861-1925) and his family. An excellent example of Queen Anne style with asymmetrical composition, the home features a complex roofscape incorporating gables and polygonal turrets. Eastlake detailing is evident in the decorative gable end treatment. James F. (1864-1938) and Ella Jo (McMickle) (1873-1966) Rochelle owned the home from 1929 to 1966.

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Excerpts from the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (see second link) for the house solve the mystery: This is the last of three Texarkana homes based on a design created by architect George Franklin Barber.

"The design of the Earl-Rochelle House matches Design No. 71b in Tennessee architect George Barber’s 1895-1896 publication "New Model Dwellings and How Best to Build Them" (p. 94-95)."

"George Franklin Barber specialized in the Queen Anne style and his design catalogues became very popular in Texas during the late 19th century. A self-trained architect from Knoxville, he published nine catalogues between 1888 and 1907. His publications offered owners the option to add to or modify the design to suit individual requirements or needs. Barber created the design used in the Earl-Rochelle House for Mrs. William Walden Gray and her sons in Grayville, Illinois, in 1895, the same year the design first appeared in the April-May-June issue of Barber’s periodical "American Homes."

"Evidently the Barber design used in the Earl-Rochelle House was well circulated in Texarkana during the 1890s because at the turn of the century the city had three homes that used the same design (Figures 8-3 and 8-4). The most grandiose of the three identical residences was the Lawson House. Built about 1895, the beautifully constructed Lawson House was known for the luxurious and grandiose style in which its occupants, the Lawson family, lived. The Lawson House was torn down, however, in 1975 to make way for a used car lot. The other, built in 1897 by Q.O. Turner, a prominent lumberman, was in the neighborhood known as "Quality Hill" in Texarkana, Arkansas. A sprawling but soundly constructed building with many fine features, fire destroyed the Turner House in 1981."

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