Small House Bureau

In 1938, Barber McMurry released affordable small house designs as part of the Knoxville Small House Bureau, a joint effort of architects, contractors and financial institutions in Knoxville to “assist, in every way, those who would build small houses.” 

The major architectural firms of the time participated, including Baumann & Baumann and Manley & Young, as well as individual practitioners like Clem Meyer and W. A. Rutherford Jr. 

Memphis had a similar Small House Construction Bureau, with plans also published in the Knoxville booklet. Both cities’ efforts were affiliated with the Federal Housing Administration, which was created in 1934. Plans published in the books were designed by local architects and approved by the FHA, which helped ensure homeowners during the Depression could receive long-term mortgages while also standardizing affordable home construction and providing architectural inspection and a certificate from the local architect. 

The McClung Historical Collection has published the complete booklet.