2000 - Women's Club of Fairmont, Fairmont, WV

The Thomas W. Fleming House, a combined Neo-Colonial and French Beaux design, is located at 300 First Street in Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia. Mr. Fleming had the two and one-half story, U-shaped house built in 1901.

The well-preserved house is a stucco masonry structure with a high-pitched truncated hip roof. Semicircular steps meet a rounded glass-enclosed solarium centered at the front of the house. The solarium is flanked by gray-stuccoed masonry walls with windows that are arranged in groups of three. Tripartite design elements, in addition to the three front bays, include three dormers with curvilinear broken pediments, and two two-story bays with half conical roofs at the side elevations. These elements visually join the curving entrance solarium and visually frame the symmetrical mass of the entire home.

Much of the original furniture, plasterwork, stained glass and light fixtures remain intact. A stained glass window at the stair landing, a leaded glass front door panel, and the original slate roof have been replaced with substitutes. No major alterations have occurred, with the exception of the removal of one wall.

Thomas W. Fleming was a descendant of a pioneer family that settled in Fairmont. Fleming served as the Mayor of Fairmont for two terms and was elected to the House of Delegates in 1905. Fleming’s wife, Annie Sweeny Fleming, helped to organize the Fairmont Woman’s Club. She began inviting local women to her home to discuss civic progress and social issues. Mrs. Fleming was the club’s first president.

After Thomas Fleming’s death, the house was passed down to his heirs, who in turn sold the house. The house has been used as headquarters for the Woman’s Club since 1938. The house was placed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1979.