1981
Ardleigh: The John V. Farwell Jr. Estate
Making It Home
Postcard, c. 1905.
John Villiers Farwell Jr. (1858-1944) and Ellen Drummond Farwell (1859-1912).
Arched and pillared entrance to residence, flanked by deer statues.
Entrance to Stone Gate Road off Illinois Road, east of Mayflower.
Address: 121 S. Stone Gate Lane, Lake Forest
Year built: 1896
Architect: Arthur Heun
Original owners: John V. Jr. and Ellen Drummond Farwell
On a high bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, architect Arthur Heun designed a half-timbered brick and stucco house in the English traditional style for the John V. Farwell Jr. family. Named Ardleigh, the house faces “Edgewood,” the home of Francis Farwell, John’s brother. They had a shared drive and were two of the first electrified houses in Lake Forest. Olmsted Brothers laid out the grounds.
John V. Farwell, Jr. succeeded his father as President of JV Farwell & Co. in Chicago. It was a wholesale dry goods business that was one of the most successful companies of its kind following the Great Fire. Ellen Farwell helped organize the Illinois Audubon Society in 1897. Her husband privately printed “Bird Observations Near Chicago,” after his wife’s death in 1912. John Farwell then married Harriet Dunlap Smith and lived at Ardleigh until his death in 1944.