Fisk-Harkness House

12 East 53rd Street | Midtown | built 1871

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1871
Charles Moran builds a brownstone rowhouse designed by Griffith Thomas
Banking executive Charles Moran acquired this lot in 1871 and hired architect Griffith Thomas, one of the most fashionable architects of his generation, to design a four-story brownstone over an English basement with a steep stoop.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1906
Harvey Fisk transforms the house into a Tudor Gothic mansion
After buying the house in 1905, banker Harvey Edward Fisk hired architect Raleigh C. Gildersleeve to strip off the old stoop, extend the facade forward by eight and a half feet, and reclad it in limestone in a Neo-Tudor Gothic style, completed in 1906 at a cost of $25,000.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1908
October 17
William L. Harkness buys the mansion for $400,000
Standard Oil-connected financier William L. Harkness bought the house on October 17, 1908 for $400,000, including its furnishings and artwork. His daughter Louise made her society debut there in 1916, and Harkness died in the house on May 10, 1919, with his funeral held on the first floor.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1964
The Laboratory Institute of Merchandising moves into the mansion
The fashion school Laboratory Institute of Merchandising, now known as LIM College, took over the former Harkness mansion in 1964, following a run of commercial tenants that had included an advertising agency and an art dealer.
Source: Wikipedia

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