{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Short description|American architect (1860–1928)}} {{Infobox architect |name = Clarence Fagan True |image = Leech House 520 WE Av jeh.JPG |image_size = |caption = Leech House, 520 West End Avenue (1892) |birth_date = 1860<ref name=streetscapes>Christopher Gray, "[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/realestate/08scapes.html?scp=2&sq=Streetscapes&st=cse Streetscapes | Clarence True: Row House Wrangler, Chuck Wagon Consultant]", ''The New York Times'', May 5, 2011 (Retrieved May 10, 2011)</ref> |birth_place = Queens, New York, US<ref name=streetscapes/> |death_date = 1928<ref name=streetscapes/> |death_place = New York City, New York, US |alma_mater = |practice = Draftsman in the offices of '''Richard M. Upjohn''' (until 1884)<br> Principal of '''Clarence True''' (from 1884) |significant_buildings = John B. Leech Residence (1892) |significant_projects = |significant_design = |awards = }}
'''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<ref name="New York Landmarks Conservancy">[http://ebo.nylandmarks.org/eb_view.php?pg=1&id=1985 New York Landmarks Conservancy]</ref> during the last decade of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century.
==Early life== Born 1860,<ref name=streetscapes/> True was the son of an Episcopal 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.<ref name=nyt1>Gray, Christopher. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/realestate/streetscapes-157-159-west-88th-street-revamping-pair-1891-low-stoop-brownstones.html "Streetscapes:157 and 159 West 88th Street; Revamping a Pair of 1891 Low-Stoop Brownstones"], ''The New York Times'', June 24, 2001. Retrieved April 3, 2007.</ref>
==Career== True "worked in the office of the Gothicist Richard M. Upjohn 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."<ref name=streetscapes/> About 1890 Judson hired True, at that point a newly established architect. The same year, True planned his first row houses 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 $12,000 apiece.<ref name=nyt1/> His development corporation for his speculative buildings was the Riverside Building Company.
William Van Alen, architect of the Chrysler Building, trained in True's office.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gray |first1=Christopher |title=Streetscapes/William Van Alen; An Architect Called the 'Ziegfeld of His Profession' (Published 1998) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/22/realestate/streetscapes-william-van-alen-an-architect-called-the-ziegfeld-of-his-profession.html |access-date=21 March 2025 |agency=The New York Times |date=22 March 1998 |language=en}}</ref>
==Works== * 1892: John B. Leech Residence, 520 West End Avenue * 316–26 West 85th Street * 103–109 Riverside Drive * 163 West 79th Street<ref>{{cite web |title=163 West 79th Street| url=https://www.landmarkwest.org/building/163-west-79th-street/ |website=landmarkwest.org |publisher=Landmark West! |access-date=July 16, 2025}}</ref> * 332 West 83rd Street * 469-477 West 143rd Street<ref name="New York Landmarks Conservancy"/> * 1681-1687 Amsterdam Avenue<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/realestate/streetscapes-clarence-true-a-twist-on-the-town-house.html?hp|title = A Twist on the Town House|newspaper = The New York Times|date = January 24, 2013|last1 = Gray|first1 = Christopher}}</ref> * 43–57 St. Nicholas Place * 842 and 844 St. Nicholas Avenue
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:True, Clarence}} Category:1860 births Category:1928 deaths Category:American residential architects Category:Architects from New York City Category:Defunct architecture firms based in New York City Category:People from Queens, New York