Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Museum

Ardleigh: The John V. Farwell Jr. Estate

Making It Home

Postcard, c. 1905.

1981

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 ForestYear built: 1896Architect: Arthur HeunOriginal 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.