Designed by Architect S.V. Stratton, Ban-y-byrn was burned down during the historic fire of 1947. The fire, which started on October 17, burned a three-mile-wide, six-mile-long swath in just three hours. It totally devastated vast sections of Bar Harbor, incinerating 67 summer cottages, five grand hotels, and 170 year-round homes. The fire ended an era. Few of the grand homes were rebuilt, and many of the summer people did not return.

Ban-y-bryn had been built in 1888-89 for Albert Clifford Barney, president of the Barney Railroad Car Foundry. His wife, Alice Pike Barney, was an artist, sculptor, playwright and patron of the arts.