Martin & Hall was an American architectural firm based in Providence, Rhode Island. It was established in 1893 as the partnership of architectsFrank H. Martin and George Frederic Hall. After Martin's death in 1917 Hall practiced alone until his own death in 1928.
History
The firm was founded February 1, 1893, when the two men, who were senior employees of the leading local firm, Stone, Carpenter & Willson, opened their own practice. They took several clients with them, resulting in a rift with their former employers. Likely as a result of this, both were denied membership in the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) until after the deaths of Alfred Stone and Edmund R. Willson. Martin & Hall developed a successful general practice and did not specialize in any one type of building. Their work was concentrated in Rhode Island with a small number of projects in other New England states and one in Texas.[1]
The firm's first office was located on Custom House Street. In 1894 they moved into the just-completed Industrial Trust Building, now demolished.[2] In 1901 they again moved to the new Union Trust Company Building, where they would remain. Both of these buildings were designed by their former employers, Stone, Carpenter & Willson.
Martin died unexpectedly in 1917. Hall continued the firm as a sole proprietorship until his own death in 1928.[1]
Martin was married in 1887 to Annie W. Burgess of Lynn, Massachusetts.[4] They had one child, Maude Potter Martin. In 1915 she married William Low Studley, son of J. Edward Studley of the William H. Low Estate Company, a repeat client of the firm.[5] Martin was a member of the AIA, the Architectural League of New York and the Providence Art Club. He also served as senior warden of the vestry of S. Stephen's Church. He died at home in Providence after a brief illness at the age of 53.[3][6]
George Frederic Hall
George Frederic HallAIA (June 11, 1866 – September 6, 1928) was born in Providence to Alvin E. Hall and Martha Louise Hall, née Andrews. He was educuated in the Providence public schools before joining Stone, Carpenter & Willson.[1] While employed by the firm he independently designed a building on the Seekonk River for the Narragansett Boat Club (1891), of which he was a member.[7]
Hall was married in 1897 to Mary Woodbury Polleys of Providence. They had no children. Hall was a member of the AIA, the Narragansett Boat Club, the Wannamoisett Country Club and the Providence Art Club, of which he was president for six consecutive terms. In 1928 he was appointed secretary of the commission responsible for erecting a statue of Oliver Hazard Perry at the Rhode Island State House; it was dedicated about two weeks after his death. While superintending construction of the Industrial Trust Building he became ill, and died several weeks later at the age of 62.[1][8]
Legacy
Martin & Hall followed the architectural approach established by their former employer, Stone, Carpenter & Willson. Most of their buildings were designed in contemporary revival styles, typically the Colonial Revival, Gothic Revival and Neoclassical styles. A small group of early projects, such as their first major completed work, the Roger Williams Park Museum of Natural History (1895), are Châteauesque.[1] They differed from Stone, Carpenter & Willson chiefly in their exaggerated approach to detail and proportion.[9] A later group of buildings, including the Edwin A. Smith Building (1912) and their two public toilets, feature elaborate wrought-iron detail which is evocative of the Art Nouveau architecture of the 1900 Paris Exposition. The Smith building is also Rhode Island's exemplary example of the Commercial Style as it was then being developed in Chicago.[10]
At least five buildings designed by Martin & Hall have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places, and others by the firm and by Hall alone contribute to listed historic districts.
Architectural works
All dates are date of completion. Buildings built after 1917 are attributed to Hall alone.
After Rhode Island College moved to Mount Pleasant in 1958, this building was used for state offices and courts. Demolished to build Providence Place; some ornament was salvaged and reused in the John Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts on the present college campus.
Martin & Hall were responsible for the basement church only. Ambrose J. Murphy, probable principal designer. Murphy, Hindle & Wright completed the church proper in 1915. NRHP-listed.
Hall added the bridge connecting the club's buildings at 10 and 11 Thomas Street and renovated 10 Thomas Street for club purposes. A contributing resource to the NRHP-listed College Hill Historic District.
By 1894 the prison was severely overcrowded, and Martin & Hall prepared plans for new jail for Providence County in 1896. The state appropriation was revoked while bids were being solicited and the original project was abandoned.[50]
^ abcdefWilliam H. Jordy and Christopher P. Monkhouse, Buildings on Paper: Rhode Island Architectural Drawings, 1825-1945, ed. William McKenzie Woodward (Providence: 1982): 222.
^"Industrial Trust Company Building," Providence News, May 3, 1894.
^ ab"Martin, Frank Howard" in Who's Who in New England, ed. Albert Nelson Marquis (Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company, 1909): 635.
^ abc"George F. Hall, architect, dead," Providence Journal, September 6, 1928.
^ abWilliam H. Jordy, Buildings of Rhode Island, ed. Ronald J. Onorato and William McKenzie Woodward (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004): 444-445.
^ abWilliam H. Jordy, Buildings of Rhode Island, ed. Ronald J. Onorato and William McKenzie Woodward (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004): 42.
^William McKenzie Woodward and Edward F. Sanderson, Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources, ed. David Chase (Providence: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1986): 184.
^ abWilliam McKenzie Woodward, PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture (Providence: Providence Preservation Society and AIA Rhode Island, 2003): 146.
^"The New Park Museum" in Park Museum Bulletin 7, no. 6 (January–February, 1916): 30-32.
^"The new convent," Providence News, September 24, 1894.
^American Architect and Building News 52, no. 1064 (May 16, 1896): xx.
^ abJohn Hutchins Cady, The Civic and Architectural Development of Providence, 1636–1950 (Providence: The Book Shop, 1957): 192.
^William McKenzie Woodward and Edward F. Sanderson, Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources, ed. David Chase (Providence: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1986): 239.
^"New orphanage," Fall River Daily Herald, August 28, 1896.
^William McKenzie Woodward and Edward F. Sanderson, Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources, ed. David Chase (Providence: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1986): 239-240.
^John Hutchins Cady, The Civic and Architectural Development of Providence, 1636–1950 (Providence: The Book Shop, 1957): 192.: 194.
^William H. Jordy, Buildings of Rhode Island, ed. Ronald J. Onorato and William McKenzie Woodward (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004): 140.
^Paul F. Norton, Rhode Island Stained Glass: An Historical Guide (Dublin: William L. Bauhan, 2001): 119.
^William McKenzie Woodward, PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture (Providence: Providence Preservation Society and AIA Rhode Island, 2003): 227-228.
^William McKenzie Woodward, PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture (Providence: Providence Preservation Society and AIA Rhode Island, 2003): 73.
^John Hutchins Cady, The Civic and Architectural Development of Providence, 1636–1950 (Providence: The Book Shop, 1957): 192.: 200.
^William McKenzie Woodward and Edward F. Sanderson, Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources, ed. David Chase (Providence: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1986): 150.
^William McKenzie Woodward, PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture (Providence: Providence Preservation Society and AIA Rhode Island, 2003): 88.
^William McKenzie Woodward, PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture (Providence: Providence Preservation Society and AIA Rhode Island, 2003): 127.
^William H. Jordy, Buildings of Rhode Island, ed. Ronald J. Onorato and William McKenzie Woodward (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004): 56.
^William H. Jordy, Buildings of Rhode Island, ed. Ronald J. Onorato and William McKenzie Woodward (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004): 449-450.
^Annual Report of the State Board of Education, January, 1910 (Providence: State of Rhode Island, 1910)
^John Hutchins Cady, The Civic and Architectural Development of Providence, 1636–1950 (Providence: The Book Shop, 1957): 192.: 229.
^"New church and parish house opened at Sherman, Tex." in Living Church 45, no. 2 (May 13, 1911): 67.
^William McKenzie Woodward, Downtown Providence: Statewide Historical Preservation Report P-P-5, ed. David Chase and Bernard Mendillo (Providence: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1981): 65.
^Martha Bowers, Elizabeth S. Warren and Pamela Kennedy, Rhode Island: State-owned Historic Properties, ed. Robert Owen Jones (Providence: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1989): 17.
^William McKenzie Woodward and Edward F. Sanderson, Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources, ed. David Chase (Providence: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1986): 244.
^"Death Of Mr. F. H. Martin" in Living Church 56, no. 16 (February 17, 1917): 534.