Farmer & Dark had its origins in an architectural firm established in London, England by Frank Quentery Farmer (1879-1955) in 1934. He was joined soon after by Bernard Frankland Dark (1903-1972).
Second generation partners in the firm were Tom Pinion, William (Bill) Henderson, Tom Eaton, John Barton and Edward Butcher (1927-2002), who headed the firm's offices in Poole, Dorset, and in Winchester, Hampshire from c.1852 to 1979. Later partners included Ian Davis, Ernest Hutchinson and Rogan Gayle-Brown.
The firm specialised in the design of power stations - coal, oil and nuclear, and industrial buildings. They also designed schools, crown courts, desalination plants, palaces and laboratories.
Farmer & Dark ceased to practice in 1994.
Projects by Farmer & Dark included Little Barford Power Station in St Neots, Cambridgeshire (1941), Fahaled Power Station in Kuwait (1949), Power Station in Willington, Derbyshire (1953), Marchwood Power Station, Southampton Water (1954-1959), Factory for Loewy Engineering Company Limited, Poole, Dorset (1955), Prefabrication scheme for A.H. Anderson Ltd. (1957), Control building for Power Stations A & B, Kuwait (1957), Power Station in Doncaster, Yorkshire (1957), Power Station in Keadby, Yorkshire (1957), Booking office for Middle East Airlines, London (1958), Factory and offices for British Diamond Wire Die Co. Ltd., Poole (1958), Surra Palace, Kuwait (1959), garage and service station, Poole, Dorset (1959), Junior school, Ley Hill, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire (1959), numerous buildings for Bowater Paper Corporation, Ltd. (1950s), Max Factor Warehouse, Poole, Dorset (1960), conversion of exisiting premises for Intra Bank Ltd., Lower Regent Street, London (1961), offices, headquarters and canteen for CEGB Southern Area Project Group, Finchley, London, designed (1961), laboratories and offices, Morgan Crucible Co. Ltd., London (1962), Nuclear power station, Wylfa, Anglesey (1963), central clinic at Poole in Dorset, England (1963), Glenmere County Junior School, Wigston, Leicestershire (1963), Gloucester Domestic Science College, Gloucester (1964), Riverwalk House, Millbank, London (1964), laboratories and offices for IBM, Hursley, Hampshire (1964), Social centre and church, Little Aden Cantonment, South Yemen, designed (1965), Dorset Water Board Headquarters, Poole (1969), University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent (1970), Countesthorpe College, Leicestershire (1970-1971), Factory and offices for Travenol Laboratories Ltd., Thetford (1971), Fawley Power Station, Southampton (1971), Biology laboratories, Haileybury College, Hertfordshire (1971), Liverpool Daily Post & Echo Building, Liverpool (1972-1974), Automobile Association Headquarters, Basingstoke (1972-1974) and Liverpool Crown Court (1979). Farmer & Dark also designed a train for the King of Siam, the Kuwait Embassy in London, a small city constructed of coral in Somalia, a desalination plant in the Caribbean, a masterplan for Portsmouth Dockyard, offices for Providence Mutual in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, head offices for the GMB Union in Wimbledon, London and numerous buildings for the Ministry of Defence.