Manfred and Ethel Martin House

Manfred and Ethel Martin House. Utah Historic Site. Constructed in 1912, the Manfred and Ethel Martin House is a 1-1/2 story brick and wood-shingled crosswing-type house on a sandstone foundation with a gabled roof. The house is significant as an early health care facility in Vernal and for its Shingle style architecture. Manfred Martin was an early doctor in Vermal and built this house as a family residence with an attached doctor's office. At the urging of the Socialist Episcopal bishop of Utah, Frank Spencer Spalding, Dr. Martin moved to Vernal during a period of growth and prosperity in Vernal's history when the demand for more medical facilities increased. Manfred was well-known as the doctor who used a little buckskin horse and buggy to visit his patients in Uintah and Duchesne Counties during the early part of the twentieth century. The Martin family continued to own the home until 1971. The Martin house is unconventional in that it employs a late version of the Shingle style of architecture, which was generally found in Utah during the late 1800s. The style is primarily high fashioned with an unusually free form and variable style with several subtypes. The choice of such an unusual style for a house in Vernal may have come from the Martin's exposure to the style in the upper Midwest, which is where they were both from. The home retains its historic and architectural integrity and contributes to the history of Vernal and Uintah County. Marker placed in 2006 Division of State History