|The SoHo District in Manhattan, circa 1970. Fitch was a
prominent figure in the opposition of an expressway that would
have bisected the district.| Born in Washington on May 8, 1909,
he grew up in Chattanooga, and attended the University of
Alabama and the School of Architecture at Tulane University. But
before getting his degree, economic necessities required his
working for an architectural firm in Chattanooga, and then, as
the effects of The Great Depression worsened, in Nashville,
working for the firm of A. Herbert Rodgers. (Just as today,
Nashville was somewhat cushioned against ecomonic down-turns and
Rodgers designed a number of large classical houses in Nashville
during this period when much of the rest of the country was
financially strapped. Now Rodgers is best remembered for his
interior design and being the first mentor to legendary
decorator Albert Hadley). In 1934 he worked for the Tennessee
State Planning Board, conducting demographic research that
further reinforced his feeling of the correla