Thomas Reed Martin

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. He designed some 500 residences and various public and private buildings in Sarasota, as well as commercial buildings. 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. 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.

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)