THIS building at #443-445 West 22nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues in Chelsea that was to become the Frederic Fleming House was originally constructed in the 1920s as a home “for wage earning young women.” During a gut renovation in the late 1980s, a time capsule was found in one of the exterior walls which contained the list of Upper West Side women who founded the building in a benevolent effort to provide safe and affordable housing for vulnerable women. The building later became a residential hotel, and finally a residential treatment center for teenagers in the criminal justice system. After almost a decade of being empty, Trinity Episcopal Church obtained a $1/year lease from New York State to develop the building for senior housing.
As to who Frederic Fleming was, I’m drawing a big fat blank on the World Wide Web. Help me out in Comments.
Per Comments below: Reverend Frederic Fleming was the rector of Trinity Church in the 1930’s and 40’s.
8/30/22
7 comments
Frederic Fleming was the Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church located at Wall and Broadway.
He died in 1956 at the age of 71. He is buried in Trinity Cemetery uptown on 153rd St. and Broadway.
He ran Trinity from 1932 to1951.
Rev. Frederic Fleming was the Rector of Trinity Church, starting in 1933.
Perhaps he was instrumental in getting the building established? Even before he was Rector, he may have been an activist, so to speak. My Mom lived for a time in a “home for wage earning women” at 112 E 13th Street. It was called Katharine House and she paid $17.50 a week for a private room and 15 meals a week! (This was 1951)
Meanwhile, in another part of town, here’s an idea for a future post:
https://nypost.com/2022/08/30/nyc-protesters-hold-funeral-for-buildings-hochul-plans-to-raze-near-penn-station/
I found this incomplete snippet in a search.
“The building was named Frederic Fleming House to honor the rector of Trinity during the Great Depression. WSFSSH Executive Director Laura Jervis immediately …”
https://vulcanhammer.org/2021/05/28/anglican-tidbit-bookplate-of-frederic-s-fleming-rector-of-trinity-wall-street/
There’s an upscale community in Florida known as Fleming Island that is on the old plantation of the Fleming family. As best I can tell Frederic Fleming Jr (1893-1945) was the head of the family at the relevant time period, his father Frederic Sr having died in 1917. I suppose Frederic Jr might have contributed money toward the construction of the residence and it bears his or his father’s name.
It’s a real stretch, however, as I see no likely NYC connection, but stranger things have happened.
Reverend Frederic Fleming was the rector of Trinity Church in the 1930’s and 40’s.