Los Angeles County
Biographies
ALBERT C. MARTIN
MARTIN, ALBERT C., Architect
and Engineer, Los Angeles, California, was born at La Salle, Illinois,
September 16, 1879. He is the son of John Martin and Margaret
(Carey) Martin. On October 15, 1907, he married at Oxnard,
California, Carolyn Borchard. There are two children
as a result of this marriage, Evelyn M. and Margaret M. Martin.
Mr. Martin’s education was obtained mostly in Illinois.
He attended St. Patrick’s Parochial School in La Salle, Illinois,
graduating in 1894. He then became a student of architecture and engineering at
the University of Illinois, located at Champaign, Illinois, starting in 1897.
Up to 1902, he studied constantly at that college, being graduated in June of
that year with the B. S. degree in Architectural Engineering.
Shortly after graduating from the University of Illinois,
Mr. Martin became a draftsman for the Brown, Ketcham
Iron Works of Indianapolis, Indiana. He continued with the company for more
than a year and then resigned his position to enter another branch of his
profession – that of testing steel and iron.
Mr. Martin’s next position was that of inspector of steel
for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in the mills and shops in and around
Pittsburg. He was in this position for about a year and qualified as an expert.
Having learned all about the manufacture of steel and iron in the great mills
he next turned his attention to steel construction. Resigning his post with the
railroad company, he joined the forces of the Cambria Steel Company, at
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, now a branch of the United States Steel Corporation,
and for several months he was a designer and estimator of steel construction.
In the latter part of 1903, he left Pennsylvania and went
to Los Angeles, California, arriving there January 6, 1904. This move
was prompted by the offer of a position which he accepted as Superintendent of
Construction for Carl Leonardt and Company, one of
the largest contracting firms in that section of the United States. He remained
with the company for more than a year and during that time supervised the
construction of some of the largest buildings put up in Los Angeles.
Upon resigning from the Carl Leonardt
Company, Mr. Martin became engineer of construction for
A. F. Rosenheim, architect, continuing with him over four years.
In September, 1908, Mr. Martin resigned his position with
that firm, and opened offices for himself as an architect and engineer. He has
handled several of the larger buildings in Los Angeles and has put up
structures in most sections of Southern California. At the present time he is
building the Court House of Ventura County and an eight-story
office building at Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Higgins Office Building, of Los Angeles, is an
excellent example of his work.
Combining as he does the qualities of engineer, architect
and structural expert, Mr. Martin has taken a leading position in the
ranks of his profession and is regarded as one of the most thorough men in his
line in the country. He is sought in the planning and construction of large
buildings in nearly every city in the West and at the present time has numerous
large contracts in hand.
Close application to detail and originality of design
have won him the confidence of property owners, and his ideas are going far in
building development of the Southwest.
Mr. Martin is a member of the Architects and Engineers
Society of Los Angeles, Southern California Chapter of A. I. A.,
Associate Member of the American Institute of Architects and of the Los Angeles
Architectural Club. He is a member of the Newman Club of Los Angeles and is a
Knight of Columbus.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
22 August 2011.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 728, International News Service,
New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2011 Marie Hassard.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES