Albert Marth discovered NGC 7074 = m 444 on 16 Oct 1863 and noted "vF, S, E." Although marked as verified, his position is nearly 7' north of CGCG 401-027 = PGC 66854 (double galaxy). Bigourdan measured an accurate position on 31 Jul 1886 as well as Rudolph Spitaler in 1891 with the 27-inch refractor at the Vienna University Observatory. CGCG fails to label this galaxy as NGC 7074.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/17/98): faint, small, elongated 2:1 WNW-ESE, very weak concentration. A mag 13.5 star lies 1.4' NE. Located 7' NNE of mag 6.6 SAO 126834.

17.5" (9/2/89): faint, small, round, weak concentration.

600/800mm - 24" (9/7/13): at 375x appeared fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 5:2 NW-SE, 0.5'x0.2'. There was no noticeable core but seemed brighter along the NE edge. Located 6' NNE of mag 6.4 HD 204603. PGC 1307717, an extremely faint and small round glow, 12"-15" diameter, lies 7.5' NNW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb