Hermann Barth was born in Germany in 1865. Barth received his education abroad, and he arrived in San Francisco in 1881. He married Lydia Hamm in 1895 in San Francisco, where he lived and practiced architecture for over 25 years. He is known for his medical, industrial, commercial, funerary, and residential architecture. Barth designed buildings in the San Francisco Bay area, and his style encompassed both California traditions and early twentieth century innovations.

In the early part of Barth's professional career, he worked with various Bay Area architects such as Kennitzer & Raun, Swaun, Moore, and T.J. Welch. In 1905 Barth dissolved his partnership with his first employer (Kennitzer) to begin his own practice. At the time of his death, Barth's office was located on 12 Geary Street, San Francisco, and he was a member of the San Francisco Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

A practitioner of numerous types of architecture, Barth's most notable projects are the German Hospital; the Alameda Hospital; a wing of the San Francisco City and County Hospital; California Market; Schmidt Building; Schweitzer Building; Delger Building; Brandenstein Warehouse; and various Bay Area residences. Moreover, The Architect and Engineer, a San Francisco based journal published during the early 1900s, documented Barth's Greek Doric Mausolem (1910), and Dr. Martin Krotoszyner's Residence and Office (1911), noted for their Classical and Renaissance styles.

A highlight of Herman Barth's career occurred when he won the San Francisco City Hospital Competition in 1915. The Consulting Board of Architects of the City of San Francisco, which included members such as John Galen Howard, Frederick H. Meyer, and John Reid, invited seventeen architects to compete in this contest. Julia Morgan and two other judges selected Barth's plans. His plans called for three additional structures to the already existing hospital, specific to the gender and condition of the patients. Barth adapted the extant Italian Renaissance style to achieve aesthetic and structural harmony in his winning plans.

Sources: "Brick Residence and Office for San Francisco Physician," The Architect and Engineer, 25, no. 3 (July 1911): 55. "Greek Doric Mausoleum," The Architect and Engineer, 21, no. 2 (May 1910): 54. "Herman Barth Wins San Francisco City Hospital Competition," The Architect and Engineer, 41, no. 3 (June 1915): 69. Obit., The Architect and Engineer, 76, no.1 (January 1924): 111.