Frederick Clare Lee was born in Chicage November 30, 1874. He was educated at Exeter Academy, New Hampshire and graduated from the School of Architecture, Yale in 1896. He attended Ecoles des Beaux Arts between 1897-1902 in Paris. He returned the United States and worked as a draftsman for Lord and Hewlett (1902-1907) in New York. In 1907 he moved to Toronto and joined Darling & Pearson where he was in charge of the Toronto General Hospital construction on College St (1910-1912). He also designed the large private wing for the Wellesley Hospital under his own name.
In 1912 he formed a partnership with Edward F. Stevens, F.A.I.A., and specialized in the design of hospitals, with Lee remaining in Toronto to handle the Canadian commissions, and Stevens operating the Boston branch of the firm. Their office can be credited with more than twenty hospital buildings in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba, as well as nearly fifty hospitals in the United States. The firm remained active until 1933. Lee's membership in the Ontario Assoc. of Architects lapsed in December 1936.