John W. Judd House

The John W. Judd House, built in 1891, is architecturally and historically significant as one of the ten remaining houses that were original to Perkins’ Addition subdivision, the most visually cohesive example of a streetcar subdivision in Salt Lake City. Streetcar subdivisions played a major role in the transformation of the land south of the original city from agricultural to residential use in the 1890s, and Perkins’ Addition was considered the standard of subdivision excellence. The Judd House, as on of seven houses in Perkins’ Addition which are variants of one house pattern, documents a significant process in suburban development the use of standardized plans that could be varied to accommodate individual preferences. Additionally, this house type, distinguished by its gable facade and double porch entry, is unique in Salt Lake City, having originated in Colorado. This house is also significant for its association with John W. Judd, a prominent attorney who came to Salt Lake City from Tennessee to serve as a justice in the Territorial Supreme Court of Utah. He lived in this house for most of his ten-year residency in Utah.

The John W. Judd House at 918 East Logan Avenue was built in 1891 as one of the thirteen large, brick houses constructed by Metropolitan Investment Company in Perkins’ Addition subdivision. A large, brick carriage house, the only one in the development, was built behind this house at that time also. The first owner/occupants of this house were John W. and Eliza B. Judd, who bought the house in December 1892 and moved here from 17 West 500 South. The Judds had come to Utah from Tennessee in 1888 after John had been appointed Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court of Utah. The house had apparently been built for John J. Allen as a speculative venture. Allen, who never lived in the house, was apparently an out-of-state investor for he was never listed in the annual city directories.

John W. Judd was born on a plantation in Sumner county, Tennessee on September 6, 1839. As a young man he studied law in the offices of his uncle, J. C. Stark of Springfield. During the Civil War he served in the Confederate Army. In 1865 he opened his private law practice in Springfield. He was later appointed to the Circuit Bench in Tennessee, then as a justice of the Supreme Court of that state. In 1888 he was appointed justice of the Territorial Supreme Court of Utah and moved to Salt Lake City. He resigned from that position in 1889 to pursue his private practice in partnership with Jabez G. Sutherland.

Eliza B. Judd was born in Harrisburg, Kentucky on January 29, 1853 to the Rev. John S. and Elizabeth Bonner Bayless. In 1880 she married John W. Judd in Nashville; they had four children.

The Judds probably moved into the house at 918 East Logan Avenue soon after buying it in December 1892. This house is the largest of the Perkins Addition houses and features a large, brick carriage house behind. The Judds lived in this house until 1898 when they returned to Nashville, where John continued his law practice and was later appointed to the Supreme Court. While living in this house, the Judds, reflecting their Southern background, had a Negro maid, Charity, living with them, who took care of their children and performed the household chores.2 John W. Judd died in Nashville in 1919, and Eliza B. Judd returned to Salt Lake City in 1932, living with Dr. S.C. Baldwin (2605 E. 3300 South), apparently friends of the family, until her death in 1935.

David Evans, a lawyer, and his wife Lean, who bought the house in 1898, lived here only two years. Evans, a native of Lehi, Utah, was a prominent lawyer aid mining man in Utah. He served as Lehi City Attorney, Assistant U.S. Attorney for Utah, a member of the upper house of the Utah Territorial legislature, and as a member of the Constitutional Convention. After twenty years in law aid politics, he devoted his time to mining activities.

From 1901-1904 the house was owned by John A. and Abbie Angenette Sermon. John Sermon was a wool grower.

Lyman R. Martineau bought the house in 1904 and lived here until his death in 1926. Mr. Martineau was involved in real estate at the time and was president of Margis Investment Company. He had moved to Salt Lake City in 1904 from Logan, Utah, where he had been very active in political, educational, and business affairs. He had served as Cache County Assessor and Treasurer (1882-87), a member of the Logan City Council, a trustee of Brigham Young College (now, Utah State University), and on the Board of Trustees of the Industrial School in Ogden. He also served as chairman of the Democratic State Committee and, in 1908, ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Congressional seat. In business affairs, he was director of Thatcher Brothers Bark in Logan and worked for many years as an appraiser for the Federal Farm loan Bank. Lyman Martineau was also active in LDS Church affairs, serving a mission to England in 1879-81, as a member of the high council of the Cache Stake (1884-1904), and for fifty years in the young men’s program. At the time of his death in 1926, he was survived by his wife, Emilene Cannon Martineau, whom he had married in 1913, and their four children, and by six children from his 1881 marriage to Alley Preston. Emilene Martineau, who worked as a clerk at the State Tax Commission, lived here until 1945, when she moved into an apartment at 160 First Avenue.

Leo G. and Virginia B. Wade, the current owners, bought the house in 1945 and moved here from their home at 822 South Lincoln Street. Mr. Wade was a welder at the time. In 1957 the Wades divided the house into three apartments and, later, two additional apartments were created. The Wades continue to live in one of the apartments in the house.