The firm of Colleran & Brother & Hughes acted as both architect and developer. In 1889 it broke ground for a row of four high-end residences on the north side of West 74th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. Completed the following year in an A-B-A-B configuration, the 20-foot-wide houses were four stories tall above high English basements and faced in brownstone.
The deeply rusticated parlor and second floors of 53 West 74th Street were distinguished by a pronounced rounded bay. A dog-legged box stoop meandered up to the arched doorway, which was protected by iron-and-glass doors and outlined by delicate rope molding. A fearsome lion's head decorated its keystone. Intricate Renaissance Revival panels embellished these levels and also appeared at the bases of the parlor openings.
The architect switched gears, turning to neo-Grec for the planar faced upper floors. The windows sat within elaborate carved architraves. Equally ambitious was the pressed metal cornice with its paired, scrolled corbels and decorated fascia panels.
Max Weil purchased all four houses from Colleran & Brother & Hughes in January 1891. When he sold them at auction on July 3, William Burnet Baldwin placed the winning bid of $43,900 for No. 53. (The price would translate to just over $1.5 million in 2026.)
William Burnet Baldwin was born on November 27, 1850 to Jesse Baldwin Jr. and the former Phebe Ann Burnet. He and his wife, Irene, had at least one son, William R. Also moving into the house was Phebe Baldwin. (Jesse had died in December 1881.)
Baldwin was a builder and just two months after moving into 53 West 74th Street he began construction on two two-story stables on West 76th Street near Amsterdam Avenue.
Phebe Ann Baldwin died in the house at the age of 84 on April 13, 1894. Her funeral was held in the parlor three days later.
Somewhat surprisingly, William and Irene sold 53 West 74th Street for a tidy profit to their son, William R. Baldwin (who was living in Illinois by now), in March 1896 for $47,250. The transaction initiated a flurry of deed transfers. The same day, William R. Baldwin transferred the title to Samuel F. Adams who sold it almost immediately to Jacques Richard Simon.
Born in San Francisco on April 9, 1859, Simon was the head of the silk importing firm J. R. Simon & Co. His substantial concern maintained a buying office in Yokohama, Japan and employed representatives in China, Hong Kong and France.
Simon married Virginia (known as Jenny) Rosenbaum on April 2, 1889. When they moved into 53 West 74th Street, they had three children: six-year-old Lloyd Nutenson, two-year-old Grace Mignon, and Albert Richard, who was an infant. Two more children would be born in the house: Carolina in 1904 and Virginia Dorothy the following year.
Jacques Richard Simon (original source unknown)
Like all their neighbors, the Simons maintained a domestic staff. Living with the family were the children's governess and three other servants.
On July 28, 1912, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle described 19-year-old Amy A. Michaels as "among the very pretty girls of the younger set." The article said, "She is to marry a Manhattan man, Lloyd N. Simon." (Lloyd was now 22 years old.)
Among the Simons' domestic staff who did not live with the family, of course, was their chauffeur, Paul Kearney. On the afternoon of April 23, 1915, he was driving Jacques Simon in Long Island City. A group of boys were playing ball at Ninth Street and Jackson Avenue around 3:00. The Brooklyn Daily Star reported, "One of the players knocked the ball out into the street, and Harrigan fielded it." "Harrigan" was 18-year-old Dennis Harrigan. In chasing the ball, he "stepped right in the path" of the Simon vehicle.
Kearny slammed on the brakes, but not quickly enough to avoid hitting the teen. Although Harrigan was knocked to the pavement, Kearny's quick reaction resulted only in "contusions an lacerations." Harrigan was taken by ambulance to a hospital where it was reported, "His condition is not serious."
Jacques R. Simon sold 53 West 74th Street to Robert Reed Moore on July 15, 1919. He and Jennie moved to 300 West End Avenue where Jacques died two years later from arterio-sclerosis.
Moore was president of the Commercial Trust Company and of the cotton brokerage firm of Robert Moore & Co. (Moore's brother, Edward, was a partner in the latter.) The family moved into 53 West 74th Street just in time to announce the engagement of E. Louise Moore to Theodore Guy Converse on October 7, 1920. The prospective bride had made her debut two years earlier and the New-York Tribune said, "They both are popular members of society."
The family received a shock on June 14, 1921. Kirk Moore was the son of Robert's brother, Edward. The 26-year-old checked into the Hotel Pennsylvania at 11:30 that morning and ten minutes later threw himself from the window of his 17th-floor room.
Reporters came to the West 74th Street house for information. Robert Moore said that "he could not understand why his nephew should want to take his own life as he was a most estimable young man and apparently was happy and had everything to live for."
Despite the tragedy, E. Louise's wedding took place as planned the following month, albeit much more subdued. She and Theodore Guy Converse were married in Christ Church in Greenwich Connecticut on July 16. The New York Times noted, "Owing to both families being in mourning, only relatives and intimate friends are to attend." The New-York Tribune noted that the reception would be held "at the country home of the bride's parents."
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
The Moores' residency at 53 West 74th Street would be short-lived. They sold the house on August 3, 1922 to Dr. José Maria de Bermingham and and his wife, the former Emily McElroy.
Born in Brooklyn on February 23, 1876, De Bermingham attended the St. John's Military School. A medical prodigy, he graduated from the New York University Medical School at the age of 20 in 1896. He served as assistant bacteriologist in the Pasteur Institute for a year before becoming the bacteriologist of the New York Nose and Throat Hospital in 1898.
Like most wives of prominent men, Emily was involved in charitable works. A former English teacher, she was a founder of the Aytoun Society, which operated a day nursery.
When the couple purchased 53 West 74th Street, De Bermingham was already suffering from chronic nephritis (known only a generation earlier as Bright's Disease). The 49-year-old physician died in the house on February 13, 1925. One month later, on March 15, Emily McElroy de Bermingham died of pneumonia.
Emily's will was extremely generous to her long-time lady's maid, Pauline Lee. On April 11, 1925, the Cleveland, Ohio newspaper The Gazette reported that she left Pauline $10,000. The legacy would translate to $180,000 today.
The following month, on May 26, The New York Times reported that 53 West 74th Street had been sold for $50,000. The buyer was Jeannette M. Thurber, known nationally as a patron of classical music.
Born in Delhi, New York to violinist Henry Meyers and Annamarie Coffin Price on January 29, 1850, Jeannette was educated at the Paris Conservatory. Her husband, millionaire grocer Francis Beatty Thurber, died on July 4, 1907. The couple had two daughters, Mariannne and Jeannette.
In 1884 Jeannette sponsored the city's first Wagner festival and the following year founded the National Conservatory of Music of America and the American Opera Company.
Jeannette Meyer Thurber, photo by Bryon Company from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York
Two years after moving into 53 West 74th Street, Jeannette Thurber's name appeared in newsprint for a much different reason. Her daughter, Jeannette, married Washington E. Connor in 1913. Once a partner of Jay Gould, he had retired in 1910. The younger Jeanette was described by The New York Times as "a member of an old, socially prominent family," and said she "was known as one of the foremost authorities on the history of Florida, where she owned the ruins of the old Franciscan mission at New Smyrna."
Jeannette Connor died on June 6, 1927 without a will. Then, on September 6, Washington Connor discovered a will "at their Summer home at Onteora, New York," according to The Times. Although Jeannette had voiced her intentions to leave her Florida estate to the Florida Historical Society, the newly found will left her entire estate to her husband.
Jeannette Thurber sued on November 4, 1927, charging her son-in-law with "duress and undue influence in the execution of the will." She also charged that it "was not signed by Mrs. Connor in the presence of the attesting witnesses, nor did they sign it in the presence of each other. "
Jeannette prevailed and on February 27, 1928, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that the "ancient Franciscan mission erected in 1696...will become the property of the Florida State Historical society...in compliance with the wishes of its owner, the late Jeannette Thurber Connor."
Jeannette M. Thurber leased the West 74th Street house in October 1930 to Ruth Guedalla and Annie Isaac. At the end of their five-year lease, Jeannette rented it again. And by the time she sold 53 West 74th Street to real estate operator James H. Cruikshank in February 1939, The New York Times described it as a "four-story rooming house containing eighteen rooms."
Among Cruikshank's earliest roomers was photographer Tet Arnold von Borsig. He placed third in the Long Island Photograph contest with his photograph Piping Rock Horse Show in November 1941. On July 2, 1944, The New York Times reported on the newly released Chinese Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Alan Priest. The article noted that the illustrations were photographed by Tet Borsig.
An unknown photographer snapped this photo of Tet Arnold von Borsig in 1936. from the collection of the Sprengel Museum.
And on October 25, 1946, the Northport Journal reported on a 34-picture exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. "All of the pictures were taken and arranged by Tet Borsig, 53 West 74th street," said the article.
A renovation completed in 1969 resulted in a duplex in the basement and parlor levels, and apartments and furnished rooms in the upper floors. The configuration lasted until 1980 when the three upper floors were converted to two apartments each.
photographs by the author
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