Collections : [Avery Drawings & Archives]

The bulk of the collection (292 drawings) features original drawings for the 1889 publication of Carl Pfeiffer's designs for American mansions and cottages. These are a mix of ink on paper, linen and tracing paper, as well as pencil on trace. Also included are a set of 7 drawings for a private home on Madison at 25th Street -- these are in ink and watercolor on paper, with a great level of detail -- and an illuminated monogram in a fantasy landscape.

Included are the architectural drawings pertaining to the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York, N.Y. These drawings include plans, elevations, sections, and details in full-scale, and the dates of the drawings span 1908-1928. The drawings are cataloged separately in CLIO and their call numbers are NYDA98-F0 through NYDA98-F6; their accession numbers are 1996.011.00001 through.00452.

Architectural drawings (no longer in current use by Facilities Management), transferred to the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library from the Dept. of Facilities Management pertaining to proposals, construction, alteration and addition of properties formerly used or owned, and buildings demolished or still extant. The dates of the materials span 1895 to today. The drawings include plans showing the heating and ventilation systems, electrical and plumbing details, and some original construction materials. Some of the buildings represented in this collection are: Avery Hall; Earl Hall; St. Paul's Chapel; Teachers College; Low Library; Ferris Booth; and Uris Hall, as well as details of fences; steps; statues; and bronze railings. Some of the architects hired by the University include McKim, Mead & White, Howells & Stokes, James Gamble Rogers, and Allen & Collens, as well as builder and architect R. Guastavino Co. who was responsible for the domes and vaults of St. Paul's Chapel, Earl Hall, and the Van Amringe Memorial

The drawings are of the construction of an airplane hanger, as part of WWII war effots.

The collection represents the span of Williams' architectural practice through drawings, photographs and a very small amount of papers. The majority of the collection consists of working drawings for a select number of projects. These projects include the Holmes residence "the Chimneys" on Long Island, the alteration and addition for the Donnell branch of the New York Public Library and the main branch, and the Rutherford Free Public Library. Also included are the New Milford Historical Society and New Milford Public Library as well as the United States Embassy building in Tokyo, Japan as well as other smaller projects. A wide range of projects are represented in presentation drawings, largely color renderings on board. These drawings consist of projects mainly on the East Coast including libraries, commercial work, residential work, schools, memorials, office buildings, a railroad station, a club, a post office, a hospital as well as unidentified projects. Notable projects include the Carstadt Memorial Municipal building, Essex County Country Club, Hackensack Golf Clubhouse, the National Academy of Design and several projects in Rutherford, New Jersey. Studies for executed projects are also included as well as studies are of other architects' work to serve as inspiration to Williams. Some of the Photostats in the collection are reproductions of original drawings. Photographs mainly document the exterior of a building while some interior views are included especially for the Holmes residence. A small amount of large-scale photographs mounted on board for display are also included. Miscellaneous papers are included for the Holmes residence and the New Milford Public Library. Finally, a poster and two notebooks comprised of notes, sketches and calculations for various projects complete the collection.

Three sheets giving two plans and two elevations for a public building (presumably a court house - three of the rooms are designated on the plan as 'clerk''sheriff', and 'surrogate'). There are two facades and it is difficult to tell which is the front and which is the back; one is marked by three segmental arches with a recessed porch behind; the other also has a recessed porch but has a more formal (and more up-to-date) frontispiece in the Greek Revival style, with two pilasters on either side and two square columns in the center, flanking door. Also the roof cornice of this facade has a long low rectangular panel centered over the entryway. These motifs are close to those shown in American builder's pattern books of the 1830s and 40s. The builders' manuals and pattern books of the 19th century were the do-it-yourself manuals of their era, and for builder-architects like Hadden & Gedney, were important resources for construction techniques and design details.

The architectural drawings found at "Natirar" at the time the property was acquired by Somerset County, in 2003, include those relating to the original designs by Guy Lowell and Henry J. Hardenbergh between 1910 and 1912, and those relating to the alterations and renovations made in the late 1940s under the direction of York and Sawyer. The drawings are organized by architect, which, in effect, also organizes the drawings by date ranges. Drawings that bear the names of various subcontractors have been organized by subcontractor but are filed with reference to the relevant principal architect. In addition to the drawings pertaining to "Natirar," the collection includes copies of three drawings by architect William Hanford Beers (1856-1932) of the "Gedney Farm" residence of Howard Willets and Mary Macy Willets at White Plains, New York, which was constructed circa 1898 (see photographs of the Willets residence in the July 1901 issue of The American Architect and Building News). William H. Beers' wife, Alice Macy, was a first cousin once removed to sisters Mary Macy Willets and Kate Macy Ladd.