Lilac Inn (“The Arches”)

The last great house built on Park Street was the summer home of Albert G. Farr, a native son who had become chairman of the board of the Harris Trust Company in Chicago. His Chicago architect designed a two-story, hipped-roof, Georgian Revival house that occupies two lots (cleared by moving earlier houses) and would appear more typical on Chicago's North Shore than in a Vermont village. It took its name from its most notable feature, the marble first-floor arcade of the terrace-framed entrance pavilion. A broad reception hall with a divided staircase gives onto parlor and dining wings arranged to form a court (originally around a great elm tree) that opens to two acres of terraced gardens. From here Farr dispensed patronage to his home-town, avidly supporting the library and the Stephen Douglas homestead on Grove Street and financing the construction of a segment of the Long Trail. His daughter, who lived here until her death in the 1950s, sought to control the character of the entire street by purchasing its mortgages. In the 1970s the house became a residence for the elderly and, after that, an inn.