Clarence Fagan True,
AIA (1860–1928) was an American
architect in
New York City, one of the most prolific and competent architects to work on the
Upper West Side and in
Harlem[New York Landmarks Conservancy](_blank)
/ref> during the last decade of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century.
Early life
Born 1860,[ True was the son of an ]Episcopal
Episcopal may refer to:
*Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church
*Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese
*Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name
** Episcopal Church (United State ...
clergyman from College Point, Queens. The family moved to Manhattan, and by 1890, True was working in the same office building as developer Charles G. Judson.[Gray, Christopher.]
"Streetscapes:157 and 159 West 88th Street; Revamping a Pair of 1891 Low-Stoop Brownstones"
''The New York Times'', 24 June 2001. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
Career
True "worked in the office of the Gothicist Richard M. Upjohn
Richard Michell Upjohn, FAIA, (March 7, 1828 – March 3, 1903) was an American architect, co-founder and president of the American Institute of Architects.
Early life and career
Upjohn was born on March 7, 1828 in Shaftesbury, Dorsetshire, E ...
until he went out on his own in 1884 with a few minor commissions, like two in Queens: a Queen Anne cottage in Flushing and a Gothic-style clubhouse for the Aerial Athletic Association in Woodside."[ About 1890 Judson hired True, at that point a newly established architect. The same year, True planned his first ]row houses
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
on the West Side of New York City. In 1891 he designed buildings at 157 and 159 West 88th Street, the low stoop row houses were each constructed for US$12,000 a piece.[ His development corporation for his speculative buildings was the Riverside Building Company.
Two richly varied rows of True's signature "low-stoop" townhouses, contrasting harmoniously in Italian, French Gothic and Flemish Renaissance taste, remain to recall his presence in the Upper West Side; they are at 316-26 West ]85th Street
85th Street is a westbound-running street, running from East End Avenue to Riverside Drive in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.
At Fifth Avenue, the street feeds into the 86th Street transverse, which runs east–west through Central P ...
(1892) and at 103, 104, 105, and 107-109 Riverside Drive Riverside Drive may refer to:
* Riverside Drive (Lake Elsinore, California)
*Riverside Drive (Los Angeles)
* Riverside Drive (Manhattan)
*Riverside Drive Historic District, Covington, Kentucky
* Riverside Drive (London, Ontario)
* Riverside Drive ( ...
awith 332 West 83 Street (1898–99).
An additional row remains at 469-77 West 143rd Street (1893), which includes four townhouses and one five-story multifamily apartment building with commercial frontage at 1681-87 Amsterdam Avenue in Hamilton Heights, Manhattan.William Van Alen
William Van Alen (August 10, 1883 – May 24, 1954) was an American architect, best known as the architect in charge of designing New York City's Chrysler Building (1928–30).
Life
William Van Alen was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1883 to ...
, architect of the Chrysler Building, trained in his office.
Works
* 1892: John B. Leech Residence, 520 West End Avenue
520 West End Avenue, also known as the John B. and Isabella Leech Residence, is a landmarked mansion on the northeast corner of West End Avenue and 85th Street, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
The house, built as a single-family residence, ...
.
*Row of five townhouses on West 143rd Street, Hamilton Heights, Manhattan.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:True, Clarence
1928 deaths
1860 births
American residential architects
Defunct architecture firms based in New York City
People from Queens, New York
Architects from New York City