Robert David Farquhar (23 February 1872 – 6 December 1967) was an architect working in California from 1905 to 1940.
Early life Farquhar was born in Brooklyn, the son of David Webber Farquhar (1844–1905) David Webber Farquhar Oliver Aver Roberts, 1901, History of the Military Company of the Massachusetts, Alfred Mudge& Sons, Boston, MA. and Sarah Malvina Joslyn. He attended Phillips Exeter and Harvard (class of 1893). Farquhar completed an architectural degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1893–1895), and then attended École des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1896–1901), where he organized the first ever American football game played in Europe. He returned to New York and worked in the office of Hunt & Hunt, and of Carrère and Hastings.
Los Angeles practice Farquhar moved to Los Angeles in 1905 and practised architecture there. He was appointed a member of the architectural commission of the Panama-Pacific Exposition, held in San Francisco in 1915, and designed Festival Hall.The Architecture and Landscape Gardening of the Exposition He went to Italy with the American Red Cross in 1918, and re-opened his office in Los Angeles in 1919.Class of 1893 Secretary's Seventh Report, Harvard College (1780- ). 1907 Architects Farquhar, Robert The Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects awarded Farquhar its Distinguished Honor Award for the William Andrews Clark Mausoleum, and Certificates of Honor for the design of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library and the California Club. He worked with chief architect George Edwin Bergstrom on design of the Pentagon in 1941.American Architects Directory, American Institute of Architects, Second Edition, R. R. Bowker Company, 1962, New York, N.Y The archives of his architectural studies and drawings are maintained at the UCLA Department of Special Collections.Robert D. Farquhar Architectural Drawings, 1920-1940
Some projects Project DateAddress Location Adelbert and Eva Fenyes ResidenceFenyes Mansion 1906 170 N. Orange Grove Boulevard Pasadena Dr. R.P. McReynolds House 1908 Los Angeles Gorham House 1910 336 Adelaide Drive Santa Monica Orrin Higgins House ("Villa Del Sol") 1910 1350 S. Center StreetRedlands Henry Weyse/Charles Morris House 1910 401 Ocean AvenueSanta Monica Dwight C. Lefferts Home 1910 1210 W. Highland Ave. Redlands R.D. Farquhar Residence 1911 147 Georgina Avenue Santa Monica Charles Eaton HouseCharles Eaton House - History 1913 1161 Virginia RoadSan Marino Festival Hall (1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition)Festival Hall 1915 San Francisco William Andrews Clark Mausoleum 1916 5950 Santa Monica Boulevard Hollywood Thomas C. Marlowe Residence 1921 1241 Oak Knoll Avenue Pasadena William Andrews Clark Memorial Library 1922 2520 Cimarron Street Los Angeles Canfield-Moreno Estate 1923 1923 Micheltorena Street Silver Lake Alice McManus Clark LibraryClark Administration Building 1927 1664 N. Virginia Street Reno Beverly Hills High School 1928 241 Moreno Drive Beverly Hills California Club 1930 538 South Flower Street Los Angeles Owlwood EstateOwlwood Estate 1936 South Carolwood DriveLos Angeles Harold McCormick House 1939 Beverly Hills William Garland House 1940 Pebble Beach
Family life Farquhar married Marion Jones (daughter of John Percival Jones) in New York City, in 1903. They had three children: David Farquhar (1904 - ), John Percival Farquhar (1912 - ) and Colin Farquhar (1913 - ). The family lived first in Santa Monica, then moved to Pasadena in 1929. Farquhar retired in 1953 and lived with his half brother Francis P. Farquhar in Berkeley.Robert D. Farquhar; Retired Architect, Obituary, Los Angeles Times, December 8, 1967, p. 28
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