Arthur W. McFarland was a Bar Harbor architect during the years when Mount Desert Island, Maine rivaled Newport, Connecticut as a vacation home for the American upper class. He built and remodeled many of the private estates, called “cottages,” on the island, and he often collaborated with other artists on the island.
McFarland’s traning included a degree in architecture from Columbia University, earned in 1915. After college, he attended the École des Beaux Arts in Paris until World War I interrupted his studies. He served during the war and then returned to the East Coast where he joined the firm of Adden and Parker in Boston from 1920-1924. In 1924 McFarland opened his own offices in Bar Harbor and Boston, where he worked until his death in 1953.
McFarland was a member of the American Institute of Architects. His commissions on Mount Desert Island included commercial, civic, religious, and private structures. He also remodeled existing estates including Villa Mary (1925), The Farm House (1923-1929), and Witch Cliff (1936). The Farm House, owned by Mildred McCormick, was a project that McFarland and Beatrix Farrand tackled together. Both McFarland’s signature Colonial Revival-style home and Farrand’s gardens still exist on the estate today.
References:
Bar Harbor Garden Club. “2013 Garden Tour: Gardens on the Tour.” BarHarborGardenClub.com. Last modified June 2013. http://barharborgardenclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2013-BHGC-Garden-page-2.htm
Baughn, James. “Farm House, The.” LandmarkHunter.com. Accessed August 6, 2014. http://landmarkhunter.com/119552-farm-house-the/
Bodwell, Joshua. “The Fire Burns On.” Maine Home + Design. August 2007. http://mainehomedesign.com/features/363-the-fire-burns-on.html
Mitchell, Christi A. “Harbor Lane-Eden Street Historic District.” The Gombach Group. Last modified 2010. http://www.livingplaces.com/ME/Hancock_County/Bar_Harbor_Town/Harbor_Lane-Eden_Street_Historic_District.html
Shettleworth, Earle G. Jr. Bar Harbor: Postcard History. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2011.