Background
P. J. Barber was born in 1830 at Portage, Ohio, United States. Member of a family of mechanics and master-builders, and early in life was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker.
P. J. Barber was born in 1830 at Portage, Ohio, United States. Member of a family of mechanics and master-builders, and early in life was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker.
He found employment as draftsman in the office of Reuben Clark, one of the early architects in the city, then engaged in preparing plans for the new State Capitol at Sacramento. In 1869, for reasons of health he left the Bay area to settle at Santa Barbara, where he continued architectural practice, and was known to have been active until about 1887.
Apparently Mr. Barber enjoyed a large and successful practice,
At the age of twenty-two Mr. Barber set out for California, and after a voyage of nearly four months sailing around Cape Horn, arrived in San Francisco in 1852.