The Architectural Record. November 1911 (copyright expired)
Robert W. Buckley and Robert McCafferty composed the builder-architect firm of McCafferty & Buckley. In July 1891, McCafferty bought out his partner's share of their new, upscale house at 754 Park Avenue (adjoining the southwest corner of 72nd Street) for his own occupancy. By then, the thoroughfare was seeing the construction of similar upscale residences.
McCafferty died in the Park Avenue house on February 11, 1905 "after a long illness." Less than two months later, on April 1, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that his estate had sold the 34-foot-wide dwelling to Henry de Coppet.
De Coppet and his wife, the former Laura Fawcett, commissioned architect George B. de Gersdorff to modernize the outdated Victorian. His plans, filed in June, called for a new facade, an extension to the rear, and reconfigured interior partitions. The renovations cost the De Coppets the equivalent of $441,000 in 2026.
Court documents in 1914 reveals the odd footprint of the De Coppet property. Supreme Court, Bronx County, August 1914 (copyright expired)
De Gersdorff dealt with an unusual footprint, especially considering that his extension would mostly gobble up the rear yard. He removed the stoop and pulled the facade to the property line. The entrance was lowered to below grade, centered within a marble base. De Gersdorff faced the upper floors in red brick and trimmed in marble. The three windows of the first floor, or piano nobile, sat within slightly recessed arches. The neo-Georgian design included splayed lintels, a handsome stone balustrade atop the third floor, and large dormers that fronted the fourth floor mansard.
Influential architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler was displeased with the awkward placement of the below-ground entrance. He said the mansion...
is unmistakably Old New York, excepting the high stoop--very much excepting the high stoop, for here the revivalist has gone to the other extreme; and to dive into the area in order to get at the front door cannot be considered a dignified mode of entrance.
Henry and Laura de Coppet were born in 1843 and 1840 respectively and were married in 1873. Henry was "a member of a family long prominent in financial and social affairs," according to The New York Herald. He was educated at the University of Berne and founded his own brokerage firm. He retired in 1900.
He and Laura had three children, Beatrice, Gertrude and Theakson. (Their first child, Kinloch Fawcett, died in 1876 at the age of two.) The family's summer home, Summerstay, was near Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island.
The family was at Summerstay on July 20, 1910 when their automobile was involved in what would be an expensive accident. The vehicle collided with that of Dr. Henry Rolf Brown, another Manhattanite. On September 2, Brown and his passenger, Mary H. Rhentan, filed individual suits against Henry de Coppet--Brown's for $5,000 in injuries and damages to his car; and Rhentan's for $5,000 for personal injuries and "a shock to her nervous system." The suits alleged that the De Coppets' chauffeur "was driving in a careless manner." The combined suits would translate to about $243,000 today.
Theakston de Coppett had attended Columbia University and was a stockbroker by the time the family moved into 754 Park Avenue. In 1916, he turned his back to Wall Street and urban life, purchasing the abandoned mill village of Hillsdale, Rhode Island. He moved there and became president of the town council. (An early preservationist, the bachelor would will the entire 1,800-acre estate to the state of Rhode Island in 1937.)
In 1920, the family had to address an uncomfortable issue: Henry's mental decline. On May 11, The Sun reported that Laura "and two of his children," had applied for what today would be termed a conservatorship. The article said that De Coppet, "is alleged to be suffering from senile dementia."
As it turned out, the conservatorship was not necessary. Henry de Coppet died less than five months later on October 6, 1920 at the age of 77.
Laura Fawcett de Coppet survived her husband by six years, dying in the mansion on April 21, 1926. At the time, her daughters, neither of whom would marry, lived in the house. They sold 754 Park Avenue to Mary Hoyt Wiborg in July 1929.
Born in 1888, Mary's maternal grandfather was millionaire Hoyt Sherman and her uncles were General William Tecumseh Sherman and Senator John Sherman. The wealthy socialite had served in a French hospital during World War I. She now had turned to playwrighting and in 1922 released Taboo, which starred Paul Robeson.
Mary Hoyt Wiborg, from the collection of the Library of Congress
Wiborg's family owned the corner mansion, and on March 25, 1930, The New York Times reported Mary Hoyt Wiborg had sold the two residences to the Rhoades-Kennedy Security Corporation, "which intends to erect on the site a $3,000,000 eighteen-story cooperative apartment house." The article noted, "The parcel is one of the few in Park Avenue not improved with an apartment house."
In reporting on the transaction, the newspaper commented, "Miss Wiborg, who is prominent in society, is the daughter of Frank B. Wiborg, local manufacturer. They have a home also in East Hampton, L. I."
Mary Hoyt Wiborg's family's mansion can be glimpsed at the right. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Something, possibly the Depression, derailed the plans. The property reverted to Mary Wiborg and she continued to reside in 754 Park Avenue. An art connoisseur, she filled the mansion with a remarkable art collection. On February 20, 1931, for instance, The East Hampton Star reported that Mary had loaned "three canvases by Picasso" to the Brooklyn Museum for a year. "Among the Picasso group was a canvas entitled 'Seated Women,' in the modern manner."
When her father died on May 12, 1930, Mary Wiborg inherited $365,509 from his estate--about $7.5 million today.
At mid-century, the combined corner property was again sold and this time the developers were successful. The two mansions were replaced by a 17-story apartment building designed by Horace Ginsbern & Associated, completed in 1951.
image via cocoran.com.
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