This house is design No. 27 in George Barber's 1892 catalogue The Cottage Souvenir, Revised and Enlarged. Of Knoxville, Tennessee, Barber made the Queen Anne elements the house's predominant features and the oversized corner brick chimney that wraps around a window is most unusual.
A number of important early houses are along Gregg, Texas, and China streets. China Street is so named in memory of the large Chinese population once living here as farmers and workers on the railroad. The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany (1869) at 501 E. Gregg Street is a fine example of Carpenter Gothic. The Katy Hamman-Strickler Library (1909) at 404 Mitchell Street is a small cottage with Prairie School influences and original furnishings. In Virginia Field Park, the tentlike Virginia Field Park Pavilion (c. 1895) has been in continuous use since it was built.