Abram Garfield

Abram Garfield (November 21, 1872 – October 16, 1958) was an architect who practiced in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the sixth child and fourth son of President James A. Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, and the youngest to survive infancy. He designed prominent residences and other buildings. A number of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Early life Abram Garfield was born in Washington D.C. In 1876 the family moved to what is now the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio. Garfield received a Bachelor of Arts from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1893 and a Bachelor of Science in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts three years later. He lived at 9718 Lake Shore Boulevard in Bratenahl. He was named a trustee of the university that year and two years later was made an honorary lifetime member of the board; he received an honorary doctorate from Western Reserve University in 1945. Garfield was also a director of the American Institute of Architects from 1919 to 1922 and served on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1925 to 1930, including as vice chairman from 1929 to 1930. In 1949 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician. He lived in Bratenahl, Ohio. Garfield married Sarah Grainger Williams and together they had two children, Edward W. and Mrs. William R. Hallaran. After the death of his first wife, he remarried to Helen Matthews.

Garfield died on October 16, 1958, at his home in Cleveland. He was the last surviving child of James Garfield. He was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.

Works

Robert N. Pollock House (solo work) at 2446 Kenilworth Rd., Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Built 1897. W. H. Warner House (Warner-Racca House) at 2689 East Overlook Rd, Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Built 1898. Includes a French Chateaux-inspired circular staircase and ornate chimneys. Jerome Zerbe-Samuel Halle House (Harcourt House) at 2163 Harcourt Drive in Cleveland Heights Ohio. Built 1905. Halle was part of Halle Brothers Co. Mather House at Case Western Reserve University, built 1913-1915 Casa Apava, an estate built in 1918 for Chester C. Bolton and Frances P. Bolton on Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach, Florida. After Ron Perelman sold this house and two adjoining properties to Dwight Schar in 2004 for a reported $70 million ($45 million for the house), Forbes magazine described this as "the most expensive home ever sold in the U.S." It was sold for $71.2 million in 2015. Elizabeth B. and Dudley S. Blossom Estate Service Compound, 24449 Cedar Rd. Lyndhurst, Ohio (Garfield, Abram), NRHP-listed House, 2541 Kenilworth Rd., Cleveland Heights, Ohio built 1898. John G. Oliver House, 7645 Little Mountain Rd. Mentor, Ohio (Garfield, Abram), NRHP-listed Built in 1924. Pebble Hill Plantation, US 319, southwest of Thomasville Thomasville, Georgia (Garfield, Abram), NRHP-listed