Thomas Reed Martin
{{short description|American architect}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Thomas Reed Martin
| image = Thomas Reed Martin circa 1900 (31109776444).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Thomas Reed Martin c. 1900
| birth_date = {{birth date|1866|04|28}}
| birth_place = Menasha, Wisconsin
| death_date = {{Death-date and age| February 1949 | 28 April 1866}}
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Architect
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
File:Municipal-Auditorium-Townsend 83d40m shc.jpg
File:Sarasota municipal auditorium 83d40m - dance 1950s truss system shown.JPG
File:Sarasota FL Downtown HD Roth Cigar Factory01.jpg, Sarasota]]
File:Hacienda Hotel courtyard.jpg]]
File:Lemon Bay Woman's Club.jpg
Thomas Reed Martin (April 28, 1866 in Menasha, Wisconsin – February 1949) was an architect who was brought to Florida by one of its major developers during the turn of the twentieth century.{{cite web| url=http://www.sarasotahistoryalive.com/this-week/this-week-newsletter-april-28-2010/ |title=This Week Newsletter - April 28, 2010 |website=Sarasota History Alive! |date=April 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029214918/http://www.sarasotahistoryalive.com/this-week/this-week-newsletter-april-28-2010/ |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |access-date=July 15, 2019}} He designed some 500 residences and various public and private buildings in Sarasota, as well as commercial buildings.{{cite web |last1=Bubil |first1=Harold |url=http://realestate.heraldtribune.com/2013/10/05/bubil-thomas-reed-martin-and-enduring-architecture/ |title=Thomas Reed Martin, and enduring architecture |work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |date=October 5, 2013}} His Florida buildings are located from Tampa to Fort Myers with many in Nokomis.
He drew the original sketches for the home of Mable and John Ringling, but the design by Dwight James Baum was selected by Mable Ringling and built by Owen Burns after Martin declined a fee reduction proposed by John Ringling.
Many of Martin's buildings are listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). He was listed as a Great Floridian in 2000.
History
Martin was the son of William Davidson Martin and Myra Martin. His family was part of the construction business for generations.{{cite web |first1=Mikki |last1=Hartig |url=http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110618/ARTICLE/110619494 |title=Architect Thomas Reed Martin and Sarasota |date=June 18, 2011 |work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune}} He graduated from high school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, he moved with his family to Chicago in 1883. Thomas married Sadie W. Coffin on February 19, 1890. They had three sons and a daughter.
Martin was first employed as a draftsman with Global Machinery Co. in Chicago. He apprenticed with the architectural firm of Holabird and Roche in Chicago. At that firm, Martin met Chicago socialite and art patron, Bertha Palmer, the widow of Chicago real estate developer Potter Palmer. Palmer commissioned Holabird and Roche to design her large winter home in Sarasota. Sketches for the house bear Martin's trademark signature. She soon would become one of the largest landholders in Florida and she also became renowned for her real estate developments and the introduction of revolutionary agricultural and ranching practices in Florida.
At the age of forty-four, Martin came to the Sarasota area from Chicago to work for Palmer in the fall of 1910. He was joined by his wife and children in 1911. He set up his own practice, which flourished throughout the Florida land boom of the 1920s. Among the five hundred homes Martin designed in the Sarasota area, many are considered "Floridian" style homes which use glass block and formed concrete embellished with Mediterranean Revival features.{{cite web |title=Great Floridians |agency=State Division of Historical Resources |publisher=Florida Department of Historical Resources |url=http://www.flheritage.com/services/sites/floridians/?section=s#Sarasota |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211182101/http://www.flheritage.com/services/sites/floridians/?section=s#Sarasota |archive-date=February 11, 2011}}
In the 1930s he and an unrelated architect, Clarence Augustine Martin who had retired to Sarasota after serving as Dean of the Architecture School at Cornell University, were the architects for the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium. It was a federal economic stimulus project.
Some Florida designs
- William J. Burns House, St. Armands Key (NRHP listed)
- Case House, in Sarasota (NRHP listed)
- Columbia Restaurant, in Tampa
- Lemon Bay Woman's Club
- Hacienda Hotel (NRHP listed), in New Port Richey
- Roth Cigar Factory, in Sarasota (NRHP listed)
- Municipal Auditorium (also known as Sarasota Exhibition Hall) with Clarence A. Martin, a 1930s Works Progress Administration, in Sarasota (NRHP listed)
- L. D. Reagin House, in Sarasota (NRHP listed)
- Bacheller-Brewer Model Home Estate, in Sarasota (NRHP listed)
- H. B. William House, in Sarasota (NRHP listed)
- Chidsey Library, in Sarasota (NRHP listed)
References
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