MARTIN, Frank John Ellen (1904-1993), son of Frank P. Martin, a well-known architect active in Saskatoon, Sask. Born in Brighton, England on 10 September 1904, he was brought to Canada by his family in March 1907 and later moved to Saskatoon in 1910. He studied engineering at the Univ. of Saskatchewan in 1924-28, and graduated with a degree in civil engineering. He then moved to Seattle, Wash. in October 1928 and enrolled the College of Architecture at the University of Washington, and graduated with a degree in Architecture in 1931. During his studies there, he would spend his summer months in his hometown in Saskatoon, working in his father’s office as a structural designer and job site supervisor from 1928 to 1931.
The untimely death of his father in early December 1931 at the age of 49 years forced his son to suddenly reconsider his plans for his professional career, and within weeks he had arranged to take over the practice of his late father in order to complete ongoing commissions, and to accept new projects under his own name. Much of his early work, like the Vimy Memorial Bandstand (1937), and CFQC Radio Studios (1940) were executed in an Art Deco style, and he continued to design a variety of public, institutional and commercial works in a modernist style after 1945. He was respected by his colleagues in the profession who elected him for three separate terms as President of the Saskatchewan Association of Architects, the first in 1940-41, and for two additional terms, in 1948-49, and again in 1954-55.
During WWII, Martin served with the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941-45, and re-established his practice in December 1945. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Inst. of Canada in 1963, and continued to operate his own office until July 1967, then served as a consultant to the architectural firm of Forrester, Scott, Bowers & Cooper in Saskatoon until December 1971 when he retired. He died in Saskatoon on 15 April 1993 (obit. Star-Phoenix [Saskatoon], 17 April 1993, D6; inf. from Mr. Frank J. E. Martin, received May 1983; biog. and port. R.A.I.C. Journal, xviii, Sept. 1941, 157; biog. Canadian Who‘s Who, vi, 1952-54, 689; inf. from Saskatchewan Assoc. of Architects)
(works in Saskatoon unless noted)
VIMY MEMORIAL BANDSTAND, Spadina Crescent at 20th Street East, 1937 (Star-Phoenix [Saskatoon], 28 Aug. 1937, 3, illus.; and 9 Sept. 1937, 4; R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, Feb. 1938, 48, illus.)
EXHIBITION GROUNDS, Lorne Avenue, log cabin Pavilion for the Saskatoon Old Timers Association, 1937 (Star-Phoenix [Saskatoon], 17 July 1937, 32, illus. & detailed descrip.)
O.K. ECONOMY GROCERY STORY, 2nd Avenue at 23rd Street, 1938 (Star-Phoenix [Saskatoon], 16 June 1938, 6, detailed descrip.)
AVENUE B, at 37th Street, retail store for G. Nalevykin, 1938 (Star-Phoenix [Saskatoon], 21 July 1938, 3)
EXHIBITION GROUNDS, Lorne Avenue, decorative pylons for the Royal Visit, 1939 (inf. F.J. Martin)
CFQC RADIO STUDIOS, 1st Avenue North, 1940 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xvii, Nov. 1940, 204; Star-Phoenix [Saskatoon], 24 May 1941, 13, illus.; S.A.A. Official Handbook, 1943, 83, illus.)
SASKATOON ELECTRICAL ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, Avenue C South at 19th Street, 1939-40 (S.A.A. Official Handbook, 1943, 115, illus.)
SASKATOON BOARD OF EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, 4th Avenue South near 22nd Street East, 1947 (inf. F.J. Martin)
RIVERVIEW COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE, 3rd Avenue South, major additions, 1947, 1959 (inf. Saskatoon Board of Education)
HUB CITY CURLING CLUB., Avenue D at 21st Street, 1947-48 (Star-Phoenix [Saskatoon], 24 Sept. 1947, 20)
UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN, Gymnasium Wing, 1948-49 (inf. F.J. Martin)
NORTH BATTLEFORD, SASK., Alexander Public School, 1948 (C.R., lxi, Feb. 1948, 167)
SASKATOON CITY HOSPITAL, Queen Street at 7th Avenue North, major addition, 1949-50 (C.R., lxii, Oct. 1949, 141)