Gov. John W. Martin House, National Register historic house in Tallahassee, United States
The Gov. John W. Martin House is a Georgian Revival building with symmetrical design details situated on a residential property in Tallahassee. The structure preserves its original appearance and maintains the characteristic features of early 20th-century residential architecture.
John W. Martin, Jacksonville mayor from 1917 to 1923 and Florida governor from 1925 to 1929, bought about 27.5 acres less than a mile east of the State Capitol shortly before leaving office and built this house around 1933. He sold the property to developers in 1941 and moved to Jacksonville. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 6, 1986.
The house is also called Apalachee, a name tied to the Apalachee tribe whose principal town, Anhaica, stood on this land. Archaeologist B. Calvin Jones identified artifacts here supporting Anhaica's location after construction work began in 1987.
The house stands within DeSoto Site Historic State Park, less than 1 mile east of the Florida State Capitol. The property now covers 6.21 acres of the original 27.5-acre estate. The house is a one-story building with a screen-enclosed back porch.
Archaeologists excavating the grounds in 1987 found artifacts identifying the site as Anhaica, the principal town of the Apalachee, and as Hernando de Soto's winter camp of 1539–1540, where his expedition held Christmas in 1539. The house itself was built about 1933 on roughly 27.5 acres bought by Martin near the end of his term; the estate now covers 6.21 acres.
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