Frank Fred (Frederick) Muth (1860-1936) was a German-born contractor and builder who became the most prolific builder in Edenton, North Carolina, from his arrival there until his death. Muth arrived in Edenton in 1905 from Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he had built some large resort hotels. Working with his son, Frank Otto Muth (1887-1973), he is documented or attributed to have built dozens of houses in Edenton and enlarged or remodeled others. He also constructed a number of commercial buildings. An extensive list of buildings credited to Muth is published in Thomas R. Butchko, Edenton: An Architectural Portrait, from which this account is derived. The building list here represents only a selection of these.

The United States Census of 1910 showed Frank F. Muth, 49, as a house carpenter and head of a large family that included his wife, Mary, 47, both born in Germany, and seven children aged 22 down to 5, all of whom had been born in New Jersey. He had immigrated to the United States in 1883, his wife in 1882. Why Muth chose to move to Edenton has not been established, but once there, he enjoyed the patronage of many of its leading citizens during an active construction era.

Muth’s houses in Edenton represented the popular styles of his era, including the Queen Anne, the bungalow, and especially the Colonial Revival in many robust versions. Several examples of his residences appear in the 100 and 200 blocks of East Church Street. As noted by Thomas R. Butchko in Edenton: An Architectural Portrait, his houses are notable for the use of a plan that features, instead of a passage extending the full depth of the house, a reception hall or foyer containing the stair, from which doorways lead into the other rooms. He often employed a distinctive front entrance treatment and colored glass. The sources of his designs are not certain, but it is likely that he like other builders of the day made use of current architectural pattern books.