James Martin House (Florence, Alabama)

Last updated
James Martin House

James Martin House 2012-09-29 16-11-36.jpg

James Martin House in 2012
USA Alabama location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location 1400 Cypress Mill Rd., Florence, Alabama
Coordinates 34°48′56″N87°42′12″W / 34.81556°N 87.70333°W / 34.81556; -87.70333 Coordinates: 34°48′56″N87°42′12″W / 34.81556°N 87.70333°W / 34.81556; -87.70333
Area 0.7 acres (0.28 ha)
Built 1843 (1843)
Architect James Martin
Architectural style Federal, Greek Revival
NRHP reference # 81000128 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP December 9, 1981
Designated ARLH October 19, 1979 [2]

The James Martin House (also known as the Martin-Bounds House) is a historic residence in Florence, Alabama. Martin was a leading Florence industrialist of the Antebellum era, who owned a cotton spinning mill along Cypress Creek. He had come to Florence from Jefferson County, Kentucky, and established his mill in 1839. A fire destroyed the complex in 1844, but was rebuilt and reopened in 1850. The mill was destroyed during the Civil War, but not rebuilt before Martin's death in 1869. Martin's sons operated the mill until 1873, and owned the house until 1879. It was purchased in 1886 by John Bounds, and remained in his family until 1974.

Florence, Alabama City in Alabama, United States

Florence is a city in Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwest corner.

Cotton mill factory housing powered spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton

A cotton mill is a building housing spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.

Jefferson County, Kentucky County in the United States

Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 741,096. It is the most populous county in the commonwealth.

The original block of the house is five bays wide, with a small pedimented porch covering the double front door, which is surrounded by a transom and sidelights. A pair of nine-over-six sash windows flank the porch on either side. An addition was built on the left side of the façade in the mid-19th century, adding a hallway and two rooms to the center-hall plan layout. A wing to the rear of the house was originally attached via an open breezeway which was later enclosed. The entire house has Federal-style woodwork with some Greek Revival details, such as fluted Doric columns and pilasters on the front porch. [3]

Pediment element in classical, neoclassical and baroque architecture

A pediment is an architectural element found particularly in classical, neoclassical and baroque architecture, and its derivatives, consisting of a gable, usually of a triangular shape, placed above the horizontal structure of the entablature, typically supported by columns. The tympanum, the triangular area within the pediment, is often decorated with relief sculpture.

Transom (architectural) transverse horizontal structural beam, bar of crosspiece; also short for transom window/ transom light

In architecture, a transom is a transverse horizontal structural beam or bar, or a crosspiece separating a door from a window above it. This contrasts with a mullion, a vertical structural member. Transom or transom window is also the customary U.S. word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece. In Britain, the transom light is usually referred to as a fanlight, often with a semi-circular shape, especially when the window is segmented like the slats of a folding hand fan. A well-known example of this is at the main entrance of 10 Downing Street, London.

Sidelight

A sidelight in a building is a window, usually with a vertical emphasis, that flanks a door or a larger window. Sidelights are narrow, usually stationary and found immediately adjacent doorways. While most commonly found as supporting elements emphasizing the importance of a primary entrance, sidelights may be employed at any interior or exterior door where a visual emphasis is desired, or where additional light or visibility is needed.

The house was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1979 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. [1] [2]

The Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, commonly referred to as the Alabama Register, is an official listing of buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts deemed worthy of preservation in the U.S. state of Alabama. These properties, which may be of national, state, and local significance, are designated by the Alabama Historical Commission. The designation is honorary and carries no direct restrictions or incentives. The register includes properties such as cemeteries, churches, moved properties, reconstructed properties, and properties at least 40 years old which may not normally qualify for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. There are approximately 1421 properties and districts listed on the Alabama Register. Of these, approximately 196 are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places and 5 are designated as National Historic Landmarks.

National Register of Historic Places federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.

Related Research Articles

Morris–Butler House

The Morris–Butler House is a Second Empire-style house built about 1864 in the Old Northside Historic District of Indianapolis, Indiana. Restored as a museum home by Indiana Landmarks between 1964 and 1969, the American Civil War-era residence was the non-profit organization's first preservation project. Restoration work retained some of its original architectural features, and the home was furnished in Victorian and Post-Victorian styles. Its use was changed to a venue for Indiana Landmarks programs, special events, and private rentals following a refurbishment in 2013. Regular daily tours of the property have been discontinued.

Ashe Cottage building in Alabama, United States

Ashe Cottage, also known as the Ely House, is a historic Carpenter Gothic house in Demopolis, Alabama. It was built in 1832 and expanded and remodeled in the Gothic Revival style in 1858 by William Cincinnatus Ashe, a physician from North Carolina. The cottage is a ​1 12-story wood-frame building, the front elevation features two semi-octagonal gabled front bays with a one-story porch inset between them. The gables and porch are trimmed with bargeboards in a design taken from Samuel Sloan's plan for "An Old English Cottage" in his 1852 publication, The Model Architect. The house is one of only about twenty remaining residential examples of Gothic Revival architecture remaining in the state. Other historic Gothic Revival residences in the area include Waldwic in Gallion and Fairhope Plantation in Uniontown. Ashe Cottage was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on August 22, 1975 and to the National Register of Historic Places on 19 October 1978.

Borden Oaks human settlement in Alabama, United States of America

Borden Oaks is a plantation house and historic district near Greensboro, Alabama, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 7, 1994 as a part of the Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings Multiple Property Submission.

Crane Hill Masonic Lodge

The Crane Hill Masonic Lodge is a historical Masonic building in Crane Hill, Alabama. Built in 1904, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Aduston Hall antebellum plantation house in Gainesville, Alabama

Aduston Hall is a historic antebellum plantation house in the riverside town of Gainesville, Alabama. Although the raised cottage displays the strict symmetry and precise detailing of the Greek Revival style, it is very unusual in its massing. The house is low and spread out over one-story with a fluid floor-plan more reminiscent of a 20th-century California ranch house than the typically boxy neoclassical houses of its own era.

Oakhurst (Emelle, Alabama)

Oakhurst, also known as Winston Place and Mitchell Place, is a historic house in Emelle, Sumter County, Alabama. The two-story wood-frame house was built for Augustus Anthony Winston, a banker and cotton factor from Mobile, in 1854. The Greek Revival-style structure is five bays wide, with a one-story porch spanning the entire width of the primary facade. A bracketed cornice atop the entablature wraps around the entire house. It reflects the influence of the Italianate-style. This architectural combination, sometimes referred to as a "bracketed Greek Revival" style, was popular in Alabama from the 1850s to 1890s.

John Morgan House historic house in Alabama, United States

The John Morgan House is a historic house in Heflin, Alabama. The house was built circa 1880 by John Francis and Louise Perryman Morgan, on land given to John for his service in the Mexican–American War. After Heflin was incorporated in 1892, Morgan was elected its first mayor.

John Ash House place in Alabama listed on National Register of Historic Places

The John Ash House, also known as Rowan House, Coker House and Rickles House, is a historic residence near Ashville, Alabama. John Ash emigrated from York County, South Carolina, first to Georgia, later settling in what is today St. Clair County, Alabama in 1817. Ash became a successful farmer, and served as a judge and member of the first Alabama State Senate. In 1821 Ash was one of five local leaders appointed to oversee the construction of a county courthouse and jail; the county seat was later named Ashville in his honor. Ash built a one-story dogtrot log house around 1820. In the 1830s, the house was extensively modified: three rooms and a second story were added to the house, and the exterior was covered with frame siding. The central dogtrot was filled in, and the main portion now resembled an I-house. A triangular pedimented gable adorns the front of the house, and each side has a brick chimney. A porch was added to the front of the house in the early 1900s. The house was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1990 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Phelps–Jones House historic residence in Huntsville, Alabama

The Phelps–Jones House is a historic residence in Huntsville, Alabama. One of the oldest buildings in Alabama, it was built in 1818, shortly after the initial federal land sale in Madison County in 1809. Despite having many owners, the original character of the house has remained. The two-story house is built of brick laid in Flemish bond, and has Federal and Georgian details. The original block has a bedroom and parlor separated by a central hall, with a dining room in an ell to the northeast. Staircases in the hall and dining room led to three bedrooms on the second floor. In 1956, a porch in the crook of the ell was enclosed, adding a bathroom and small bedroom. Another porch off the rear of the dining room was enclosed and converted into a kitchen. Interior woodwork, including six mantels, is in provincial Federal style. The façade is five bays wide, with twelve-over-twelve sash windows on the ground floor and twelve-over-eight on the second. A narrow hipped roof porch covers the double front door; originally a wider porch covered a single door flanked by narrow sidelights and topped with a transom. The house was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1979 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

New Market Historic District (New Market, Alabama)

The New Market Historic District is a historic district in New Market, Alabama. The town was founded in the 1820s as a trade center along the road between Huntsville and Winchester, Tennessee. The town incorporated in 1837, and had grown to around 500 residents by the 1850s. Although much of the town was destroyed in the Civil War, some antebellum structures survive, including Classical Revival houses built in 1854 and 1860, and the Whitman-Cobb House built circa 1861.

Jude–Crutcher House

The Jude–Crutcher House is a historic plantation house in Huntsville, Alabama. The house was built circa 1812 on land deeded that year to Samuel Echols. Echols sold 54 acres and the house to George Jude, Sr., in 1817. Jude died two years later, leaving the land to his son, George Jr. The younger Jude eventually acquired 800 acres and owned 31 slaves. Upon his death in 1873, the land stayed in the family until 1883. In 1906 David Crutcher, who had been born a slave on an adjacent plantation in 1851, purchased the house and 154 acres along with two other African-American men. The Crutchers operated a successful farm on their portion of the land, which was an extension farm for Alabama A&M University until the 1940s. Only 7% of African-American farmers in Madison County in 1910 owned their own farms. David died in 1924, and his wife, Lucy, died in 1943, although the house and land is still in the family.

Leech–Hauer House

The Leech–Hauer House was a historic residence in Huntsville, Alabama. It was built circa 1830 by professional carpenter William Leech. It was built in a transitional style between Federal and Greek Revival. The house was a two-story, L-shaped structure, with a front porch which was later enclosed. John G. Hauer purchased the house in 1904, and it remained a family residence until it was sold to a flower shop in 1974. It was purchased by physician Parker Griffith and his brother in 1977. The house was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage and National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The house was subsequently demolished, and a modern medical office building was constructed on the site in 1988.

Brown–Proctor House

The Brown–Proctor House is a historic residence in Scottsboro, Alabama. The house was built in 1881 by John A. Brown, who sold it just one year later. John Franklin Proctor, a politician who served in the Alabama Legislature from 1892 through 1899 and was an attorney for the Scottsboro Boys in 1931, purchased the house in 1907. Proctor made numerous renovations to the house, including altering the two-story front portico with Tuscan columns into its current state of a single-level porch supported by Ionic columns with a central second floor balcony. A three-room addition was also built onto the back of the house, adding to the central hall plan of the original house. After his death in 1934, Proctor's family owned the house until 1981.

Forest Home (Trinity, Alabama) listed on the NRHP in Alabama

The Forest Home is a historic residence near Trinity, Alabama. The house was built in 1856 on land given to him upon his father-in-law's death. Davis was a farmer, a teacher at LaGrange College, and a leader of the Grange movement of farmer advocacy. The house remained in the Davis family as a working cotton farm until 1973. The house is a two-story I-house with a single-story rear ell. A two-story porch adorns the front façade. The house was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1979 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Rogers Department Store

Rogers Department Store was a department store chain based in Florence, Alabama. Founded in 1894, the company grew to include locations across the Tennessee Valley. The original building, constructed in 1910, was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1994 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Chambers–Robinson House

The Chambers–Robinson House is a historic house located at 910 Montgomery Avenue in Sheffield, Alabama.

John Daniel Rather House

The John Daniel Rather House is a historic residence in Tuscumbia, Alabama. The house was built in 1823 by William H. and Catherine Winter, who came to The Shoals from Prince William County, Virginia. It was taken over by the Union Army during the Civil War and used as the headquarters of General Florence M. Cornyn. After the war, the house was purchased by John Taylor Rather, an early North Alabama settler who was deputy sheriff of Madison County, and a longtime member of the Alabama House of Representatives and later the Alabama Senate. His son, John Daniel Rather, also served in both houses of the state legislature, and was President of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

Ernest Edward Greene House

The Ernest Edward Greene House is a historic residence in Cullman, Alabama. The house was built in 1913 by Ernest Edward Greene, the superintendent of Southern Cotton Oil Company. After Greene's death in 1922, the house was passed on to several more owners, including John George Luyben, Sr., who lived in the house for 34 years.

Stiefelmeyers commercial building in Cullman, Alabama

Stiefelmeyer's is a historic commercial building in Cullman, Alabama. The store was founded in 1888, and occupied a two-story frame storehouse until it was destroyed by fire in 1892. Although brick had already become the material of choice for commercial buildings in the town, the current Stiefelmeyer's was built in 1892 of wood. An addition was constructed in 1900, expanding the building to its current size. As other wood commercial buildings were destroyed by fire and replaced with brick structures, Stiefelmeyer's remains the only example of the once-dominant building material in Cullman's commercial district.

Kennedy House (Abbeville, Alabama)

The Kennedy House is a historic residence in Abbeville, Alabama. The house was built around 1870 by William Calvin Bethune, a local physician. The house changed hands several times before being acquired by William and Mollie Kennedy in 1885. The Kennedys, who were Henry County farmers, used it as a town house. It remained in the family until 1974, when it was purchased by the local Board of Education. The house was later owned by the Abbeville Chamber of Commerce.

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (July 9, 2010). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "The Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage" (PDF). preserveala.org. Alabama Historical Commission. June 13, 2014. Archived from the original on August 17, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  3. Gamble, Robert S. (May 1981). "James Martin House". National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 17, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2015.See also: "Accompanying photos". Archived (PDF) from the original on January 17, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2015.