Babcock Villa
5261 Independence Avenue | Riverdale | built 1853
Open on the map4 entries
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.
- 1855
Syndicate partner William Cromwell buys Samuel D. Babcock's Riverdale villa
Banker Samuel D. Babcock owned the middle one of Riverdale's first five estates on the 1853 map, and also held a larger estate just to the north, where he soon built a villa called Hillside. In 1855 Ann and William Cromwell bought this house. The Cromwells sold in 1859 and settled in a new villa of their own on their Sycamore Avenue estate, later called Stonehurst.
- 1863
Paper manufacturer George W. Knowlton buys the Babcock villa
George W. Knowlton, a Watertown-born banker who led the Watertown National Bank and paper companies including St. Regis Paper, bought this estate in 1863. With several neighbors he founded Christ Church in Riverdale. He held the villa until 1873, when he went bankrupt and it was sold to F. J. Ogden.
“Knowlton owned the Babcock Estate (III) from 1863 until 1873 when he went bankrupt.”
- 1910
William M. Harris, apparently a New York Life lawyer, buys the Babcock estate
William M. Harris, apparently a lawyer with the New York Life Insurance Company, owned this estate from 1910 to 1942. His son Gilbert Harris held it until 1956, when it went to Lucille Gale Knapp. Fellow New York Life executives George W. Perkins, Thomas A. Buckner and Darwin P. Kingsley lived nearby in Riverdale.
“From 1910 to 1942, Harris owned the Samuel D. Babcock Estate (III). His son, Gilbert Harris, owned the property from 1942 until 1956…”
- 1956
Paul K. Fisher remodels the 1853 Babcock villa in the neo-Georgian style for Lucille Gale Knapp
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The house began in 1853 as a bracketed Italianate villa with a T-shaped plan, possibly by Thomas S. Wall. In 1956 Paul K. Fisher remodeled it for Lucille Gale Knapp: the attic was removed and the shallow gabled roof replaced with a hipped one, a two-car garage was added to the south wing, the front porch and rear sleeping porches came off, and part of the west porch was enclosed as a dining room.
“In 1956, Paul K. Fisher remodeled the house for Lucille Gale Knapp which entailed the removal of the existing attic…”
Nearby
- 5271 Independence Avenue3 entries
- Woodworth Villa5251 Independence Avenue | 3 entries
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