Background
Arthur Little was born in 1852 in United States. Mr. Little was the son of James Lovell Little, with a direct line of New England ancestry extending back many generations.
Arthur Little was born in 1852 in United States. Mr. Little was the son of James Lovell Little, with a direct line of New England ancestry extending back many generations.
He wa educatid at the Chauncey Hall School, completed a course of architectural study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following graduation in 1875, the youth continued his studies abroad under French instmctors, also traveled widely in Europe
Upon his return to Boston he began his career as draftsman with the well-known firm of Peabody & Stearns.
Starting practice for himself when he had reached the age of twenty-five Mr Little opened an office in the Mason Building at 70 Kilby Street. Deeply interested in early Colonial architecture, he devoted his time mainly to residential work, and may be considered a pioneer in reviving and adapting styles of the seventeenth and eighteenth century to buildings of his own era. In 1889 he joined Herbert W. C. Browne in partnership with enlarged quarters in the Mason Building, continuing in practice there until with plans announced for the demohtion of the structure, the partners moved to a new office at 114 rederal Street.
Active through the years until his last illness, Mr. Little best known works were m the field of domestic architecture. He designed urban and country homes as well as large suburban estates, and among the clients for whom he did work was E. W. Bliss of New York City, Mrs. Wirt Dexter of Chicago and Boston; George L. Birge, Buffalo, N. Y„ and Senator Elkins of Washington During the early part of this century his firm designed the residence, stables and gardens at Prides Crossing, Mass, for William S Spauldnig, also in Prides Crossing estates of Henry Clay Frick, Edwin C Swift and Robert S. Bradley; home of the Hon. George von L Meyer (former Ambassador to Italy) at Hamiliton; and in Brookline extensive alterations and additions to residence and other buildings on estate of Mrs. Edward D Brandegee. The firm's outstanding architectural achievement, however, was the residence of Larz Anderson at Washington, D. C., built at 2118 Massachusetts Avenue between 1902 and 1905.
Some years later the firm planned buildings on the estate of Edward Weld at Warrenton, Virginia.