Farquhar, Robert D.

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Biographical Note

Robert D. Farquhar (1872-1967) was one of the foremost California architects of the early 20th century. He was born in Brooklyn, NY to David Webber Farquhar (1844-1905) and Sarah Malvia Joslyn in 1872. He was educated at Phillips Exter Academy and Harvard University before studying architecture at MIT and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1903, he married tennis championMarion Jones. The couple had three children; David Farquhar, John Percival Farquhar and Colin Farquhar.

Farquhar established his practice in Los Angeles in 1905 and was the prinicpal architect on such well known buildings in California as the Gorham House in Santa Monica, El Mirasol in Santa Barbara, the Barlow Medical Library, and the E.R. Kellam House in Pasadena. In 1915, Farquhar won a bid to design the Festival Hall at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco. From 1918 to 1919, Farquhar closed his architectural practice and joined the Red Cross in Italy.

When he returned to Los Angeles in late 1919, he reopened his practice and went on to design several buildings for William Andrews Clark, Jr. including his library and memorial, in addition to the Canfield-Moreno Estate, Beverly Hills High School, the California Club, the Thomasella H. Graham residence, and (as a chief architect on a design team) the Pentagon. He died on December 6, 1967 in Berkeley, California where he had lived since retirement with his brother Francis P. Farquhar.

List of Architectural Projects

El Mirasol (1905), Santa Barbara Mrs. Christian Herter Residence (1905), Santa Barbara Adelbert and Eva Feynes Residence (1906), Pasadena Barlow Medical Library (1907), Los Angeles O.T. Higgins Residence (1908), Redlands Herman Blumenthal Residence (ca. 1908)(building improvement), Los Angeles Dr. Robert P. McReynolds Residence (ca. 1908), Los Angeles E.R. Kellam Residence (1908), Pasdadena Santa Monica Board of Education, Washington School (1908), Santa Monica Major General J.P.Story Residence (1909), Pasadena Dwight Lefferts Residence (1910), Redlands Gorham Residence (1910), Santa Monica Henry Weyse/Charles Morris Residence (1910), Santa Monica Thomasella H. Graham Residence (ca. 1910), Sierra Madre Johnson Bransford Residence (1911), Nashville R.D. Farquhar Residence (1911), Santa Monica Roy Jones Residence (1911) (attributed), Santa Monica Robert A. Rowan Residence (1911), Pasadena Ralph Burnham Residence (1912), Riverside Eugene H. Bragg Residence (1912), Pasadena Chateau Bradbury (1912), Duarte Dr. Haynes Residence (1912), Los Angeles Charles Eaton Residence (1913), San Marino Torrance Public Library, Central Libary (1913), Torrance Panama-Pacific International Exposition's Festival Hall (1915), San Francisco John S.Craven's Estate Pool (1916), Pasadena William Andrews Clark Memorial Library (1924-1926), Los Angeles Alice McManus Clark Memorial Library (1926), University of Nevada, Reno Clark Mausoleum (1924), Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles Thomas C. Marlowe Residence (1921), Pasadena Canfield-Moreno Estate (1923), Los Angeles Harry Cohn House (1927), Los Angeles Richard I. Rogers Residence (ca. 1927), Beverly Hills Beverly Hills High School (1928), Beverly Hills California Club (1929), Los Angeles Marion MacNeil Smith Residence, (1931), Azuza William H. Tippett Residence (1932), Del Mar Clark Memorial Hall (1932), University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia Owlwood-Roland Arnall Mansion (1936), Los Angeles Mr. and Mrs. James Whittlesey Residence (1937), La Jolla Harold McCormick Residence (1939), Beverly Hills William Garland Residence (1940), Pebble Beach The Pentagon (1941-1942), Arlington County, Virginia Browning Building (1948), Baylor University, Waco, Texas Mr.and Mrs. Billy Workman Residence, Los Angeles Mrs. H.L. MacNeil Residence, Los Angeles Hanson Moore Residence, Los Angeles J.T.Lindley Residence, Azuza Florence Brown Residence, Bel Air Ada McCormicks' Father's Residence, Idaho Mr. and Mrs. Charles Quinn Residence, Holmby Hills Francis Farquhar Residence Mr. and Mrs. Ben Stroud Residence, Santa Monica Harvey Mudd Residence, Beverly Hills Mrs. Fudger Residence Studio for Alice Lewisohn Crowley at "Crossroads", Ossining, New York Mrs. Wesley C. Mitchell Residence, Stamford, Connecticut Walter P. Lewisohn Residence. The Mill, Hunter's Creek Jim Page-LA Library Branch Stevens Residence

From the guide to the Robert D. Farquhar Collection, Bulk, 1900-1940, 1900-1967, (William Andrews Clark Memorial Library)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Robert D. Farquhar Architectural Drawings, 1920-1940 University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
creatorOf Aldrich, Chester Holmes, 1871-1940. Chester H. Aldrich correspondence, 1897-1963. Columbia University in the City of New York, Columbia University Libraries
creatorOf Robert D. Farquhar Collection, Bulk, 1900-1940, 1900-1967 William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Aldrich, Chester Holmes, 1871-1940. person
associatedWith Clark, William Andrews, 1877-1934 person
associatedWith William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Subject
Architecture, Domestic
Architects
Occupation
Architects
Activity

Person

Birth 1870

Death 1970

Male

Americans

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