Mary and David Burgher House
63 William Street | Stapleton | built 1899
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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.
- 1844
Fisherman David Burgher builds a Greek Revival house with a two-story porch
Built around 1844 for the fisherman David Burgher, as Stapleton's houses were only beginning to go up, the frame house is a vernacular Greek Revival design. Its signature is a full-width, two-story classical portico set beneath a flared, overhanging eave, a pairing typical of how Staten Island builders handled the style. It also keeps an eared door surround, a paneled door with transom and sidelights, six-over-six windows with shutters and plain Doric pillars.
“Constructed for fisherman David Burgher, the house serves as a reminder of the importance of maritime commerce for Staten Island's economy…”
- 1849
Fisherman David Burgher sells the house and moves around the corner
David Burgher (1815-1879), listed in his deed as a mariner, spent most of his life fishing; he was named a deputy sheriff in 1833 and landed the season's first shad off Staten Island in 1866 and 1870. He and his wife Mary lived here about five years before selling in 1849 to Thomas Taylor, then built a new home on nearby Brewster Street. In 1867 he was elected a trustee of the Village of Edgewater, and late in life he ran a Bay Street lumber yard.
“…held the distinction of catching the first shad of the season off Staten Island in the years 1866 and 1870.”
- 1888
Picture colorer Minnie Bradford and pulp importer Frederick Bertuch make the house their home
Minnie D. Bradford bought the house from sea captain Thomas Taylor in 1882, when her family, headed by cigar maker Robert T. Bradford, appears to have been living there; the 1880 census called her a picture colorer. Around 1884 she married Frederick Bertuch, a German-born pulp importer who built a large fortune, and directories show the couple here by 1888. A later owner said the house got full-height parlor windows, stained glass beside the front door and a front dormer under their ownership, before they moved to West End Avenue in 1908.
“Directories show that Minnie and Frederick Bertuch were living at 63 William Street by 1888.”
- 1978
The house is restored while carpenter Conrad Fingado and Margot Nordenholt own it
Conrad Fingado, a restoration carpenter who worked at Historic Richmondtown during the 1970s, owned the house with his wife Margot Nordenholt, who ran a family import-export firm, from 1978 to 2000. In those years its asbestos siding came off, the clapboards were scraped and painted, the front porch was restored and the rear ell was rebuilt on much the same footprint. Robert and Rosemary McCormick have owned it since 2000.
“…the house underwent extensive renovation, including the removal of asbestos siding, the scraping and painting of the clapboards, exterior restoration of front porch…”
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