Fred F. French

Frederick Fillmore French (October 14, 1883 – August 30, 1936) was a real estate developer.

He was born in Manhattan, New York City on October 14, 1883. His middle name, Fillmore, was an ode to his distant relative, President Millard Fillmore. He grew up in the Bronx and attended the Horace Mann School.

Fred F. French Building

Tudor City

He built Tudor City, a housing development on Manhattan's East Side, for the rising middle class in the 1920s. He also developed Knickerbocker Village, middle-class housing on the Lower East Side between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. His original intention for the project was to build housing for "junior Wall Street executives". His Fred F. French Building is a well-known skyscraper on Fifth Avenue in Midtown. French and his company served as the developer and landlord of Knickerbocker Village, important in the history of landlord–tenant law. When the tenants were to take possession of their apartments, they found conditions to be unlivable. Facilities were either unfinished or poorly equipped, including non-working elevators and inoperable laundry rooms. The tenants formed the Knickerbocker Village Tenants Association and started a strike, withholding their rent checks until their grievances were dealt with. The conflict that arose from the tenants' dissatisfaction led to New York City's rent control laws.

French was married to Cordelia W. French, with whom he had:

• Theodore French
• John Winslow French (1918-1999), who married Adeline Greer.
• Frederick F. French, Jr.
• Ellen Millard French, who married Ernest McKay.

The French's lived at 1140 Fifth Avenue in New York City. He died on August 30, 1936 of a heart attack at his summer home, Hammersley Hills, in Pawling, New York, that he had been going to since 1929. His estate was valued at under $10,000 and did not include any real estate holdings.

The life of Fred F French and his contribution to the development of New York City was covered in detail by Alexander Rayden in "The People's City, A History of the Influence and Contribution of Mass Real Estate Syndication in the Development of New York City".