| Location | Rockland, ME |
| Owner | The Farnsworth Art Museum |
| Program | Museum and Library |
| Size | 44,000 sqf. |
The William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum Master Plan occupies two small city blocks behind Main Street in Rockland, Maine, a small coastal city (population 8,000). Rockland is known for its fishing and seafood industry and for its ferry terminal for the islands in Penobscot Bay. The museum houses an important 19th and 20th century American art collection with a strong emphasis on Maine artists such as Winslow Homer, Berenice Abbott, the Wyeths, and Louise Nevelson. The museum was originally built in 1948 from the bequest of Lucy Farnsworth in memory of her father. In addition, the original Farnsworth family Elm Street Homestead and its property was left for the museum to become its Social History wing, illustrating daily life in Victorian New England. (The Homestead is one of the best preserved Victorian homes in the country.) Also in 1948, a small office building was constructed adjacent to the Museum, facing Main Street, in order to provide extra income for the Museum. For nearly fifty years, this Museum has remained a modest regional institution.
Photographs © Brian Vanden Brink
Photographs © Brian Vanden Brink
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