A Brief History of Miller, Martin & Lewis
John Alexander Miller was born in Stirling, Scotland in 1862. He attended the University of London, and worked in architectural offices in Great Britain under the apprenticeship system.2
He spent several years in South Africa and was engaged in work on the Parliament House at Bloomfontein.2
Later, Mr. Miller came to the United States and worked in offices in Philadelphia and New York. He later established a practice with Henry Atterbury Smith and William Covell and was instrumental in promoting the plan under which the Open Stair Dwellings Company operated and developed several projects, including the first one on East River in New York.2
At the turn of the century Mr. Miller began practice in Birmingham, forming a partnership with Hugh Martin, a former office mate in the New York office of R. H. Robertson on Fifth Avenue.2
Mr. Miller was a member of the American Institute of Architects. He retired in 1930 due to ill health and died in 1932.2
Hugh Martin was born in Paducah, Kentucky in 1874, but grew up in Paris, Texas, attended Bingham School in North Carolina, University of Texas, and graduated in architecture at Cornell in 1894.2
After working with Mr. Miller at R. H. Robertson in New York, he came to Birmingham in 1899 at the suggestion of his father, John Martin, and spent several months working for Major Charles Wheelock and his son, Harry B. Wheelock.2,3
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Miller came to Birmingham, and on January 1, 1900, Miller & Martin opened its doors in Birmingham, Alabama.5
During WWI, Mr. Martin served as a captain in the Army Air Service. He was a member of the 470th Aero Squadron, overseeing the construction of the Aerodromes in England on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire and at Emsworth in Hampshire.5
Mr. Martin was a member of the Alabama Society of Architects and a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He retired in 1952 and died in 1959.2
James Artemus Lewis was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1890. After completing his schooling, he started his professional career in the office of Mr. Harry Wheelock in Birmingham, Alabama in 1911.2,6
In April of 1914, after a mutual agreement between Mr. Wheelock and the firm of Miller & Martin, he was transferred to the latter firm with whom he spent the remainder of his career.2
In 1935, the firm's name was officially changed to Miller, Martin & Lewis.6
Mr. Lewis was a member of the Alabama Society of Architects and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He died in 1958.2
1 Birmingham, Ala. Public Library Archives.
2 Miller, Martin & Lewis biographies, October 1949, Birmingham Public Library, Department of Archives and Manuscripts.
3 The Alpha Tua Omega Palm, March 1912, Volume 32, Number 1
4 Adams, Cathy. 2002. Worthy of Remembrance, A History of Redmont. Redmont Park Historic District Foundation.
5 Hugh Martin and the A.T.O. Congress Ball, December 26, 1906, Birmingham Public Library, Department of Archives and Manuscripts.
6 Wikipedia. 2024. "Miller & Martin (Architects)." Wikimedia Foundation. Last modified August 27, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_%26_Martin_(architects).