House Furniture Market Co. (now House Furniture, Inc.) was founded in 1954 in Montgomery, Alabama by William Oscar House and Martha McLendon House as a "hometown" furniture store with style.  Located in the heart of downtown Montgomery, directly across from City Hall, we featured beautiful hand selected furniture, electronics, and top name brand appliances.  House Furniture Market was the first store to bring HiFi Stereo and Color Television to the Montgomery area.

     As time went on and the city grew and continued to move eastward, we moved with it with our new store on the Atlanta Highway while still bringing to Montgomery all the beautiful furniture it has come to expect.  During this time Mr. House became ill and all the business responsibilities became that of his wife, Martha.  Mr. House sadly passed away.  Mrs. House wanted to carry on the tradition of bringing quality furniture to the public at great prices and kept the business open.  Martha worked very hard at her store and relied much on family support.

     Martha's brother, Carlton McLendon is the founder of the Victorian Reproduction Industry.  Martha always loved the Victorian Furniture that her brother Carlton produced at his factory.  She noticed that many of her customers drove for miles to come see her furniture store.  Not only would they come to look at pieces her brother made, but all of her other furniture items as well.  In 1964, she decided to embark in a new direction and go into mail-order as well as keep her furniture store for her local customers.  She founded Martha M. House Furniture and created her first Victorian catalog titled "Southern Heirlooms" from Martha M. House.  She is one of the first women known to sell in mail-order and the first to sell Victorian Furniture by mail-order in the United States.

     She realized that her mail-order business steadily began to grow and the need for a larger showroom arose.  She also wanted it to be easier for her out-of-town customers to find her showroom.  She was looking for a location near an interstate, highway or main road.  Her brother Carlton asked if she would be interested in his old factory building which is located off of Interstate 85 (Carlton had recently moved his factory to a new larger location).  She accepted his offer and moved right in. 

     In 1972 William C. House, Martha's son, joined the family business. Bill, as a little boy, would help his daddy in deliveries and little duties around the store.  Not old enough to draw a paycheck, he watched on as his father showed him the ropes. All that undivided attention has paid off.  As the President of House Furniture, Inc. he is active in all of the business operations, including sales and marketing. 

     In 1974 Laurie House joined her mother.  As a young girl, Laurie would help her mother and father in the furniture store by doing office-type work.  Later she began working more with customers in helping with fabric choices and on the sales floor.  With a lifetime of experience in the industry,  Laurie today uses her expertise in helping customers not only in sales, but in those "big" decision making times.  She selects and packages fabric swatches to be sent out.  Laurie is also on the board of directors and holds the offices of both Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer.

      Martha is proud of her "in-house" advertising agency, William House Advertising, which handles all advertising for the business.  Not only is it responsible for the ads seen in many magazines nation-wide, but it also produces the T.V. commercials, mail order catalogs, and the Internet website.  In 1996, Martha M. House found new avenues to reach its customers. With the wide growth of the Internet, we launched our website, marthahouse.com.   Our website reaches many people all over the world and has become a great tool for our customers.

     Later, Martha saw a need for a more "content oriented" website.  She wanted to let the customers have the opportunity to view fabric selections and purchase items online.  She brought on board her Grandson and Bill's son, William T. House, in 2001.  Prior to coming on board, Tommy had 10 years experience in advertising and marketing in previous work and jumped at the opportunity to be apart of his family legacy.  He is the workhorse behind all of the web content you see before you and works constantly to add new features to the website. He is also a board member and is the Vice President of Advertising and Marketing.

    Today Martha M. House is still involved  in her business.  She still lays out her catalogs as she always did, the old fashioned way.  She is semi-retired but visits her store just about everyday and eats lunch with her family, talks about business, and tends to her duties as owner.  

Facts About Martha M. House Furniture

• Martha M. House Furniture (House Furniture Inc.) is not associated with, nor do we deal with any other mail order company, local or otherwise. We do not sell or buy furniture to/from other mail order companies.

• Martha M. House Furniture, like other dealers of this style of furniture, ordered primarily from Carlton McLendon Reproductions.  This factory was located in Montgomery, Alabama. It is now closed.

• Martha M. House Furniture's prices are discounted and are very competitive with other companies.  Furniture items are shipped to you factory direct to save you money.

• Martha M. House is a real person, the sister of Carlton McLendon, the founder of the Victorian furniture industry in Montgomery, Alabama.

• Martha M. House Furniture is a division of House Furniture, Inc., a fifty four year old firm that is one of the oldest and largest retailers of this style furniture in the world.

• Martha M. House Furniture's catalog is called "Southern Heirlooms" from Martha M. House.  This name has been used in connection with our catalog for over 38 years. Martha M. House Furniture also publishes the "Old World Masters Collection" catalog of beautiful French furniture from Italian-American master Craftsmen.