Collections : [Avery Drawings & Archives]

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.

Files of the company, 1911-1920, much of which consists of unsucessful architectural bid documents, each noting the architect, building, and location, as well as estimated costs, sketches, and related correspondents. These bid documents represent commissions not awarded to NYATCC, and do, in some cases, indicate the outcome of the bid. Architects represented include McKim, Mead & White; Cass Gilbert; George Post; D.H. Burnham & Company; Warren & Wetmore, Schwartz & Gross, and many others. Also includes correspondence and office memoranda, including some describing the formative years, 1911-1914, of the National Terra Cotta Society, trade catalogs, and job photographs. Also, two albums containing photographs of sample pieces of terra cotta, and month by month construction records for three buildings, including the American Theater (42nd Street, New York, 1892) by Charles Coolidge Haight; the Renaissance Apartments (Brooklyn, N.Y., 1889) and the Imperial Apartments (Brooklyn, N.Y., 1890) both by Montrose Morris.

Also, McKim, Mead & White; Pearsall and Mills; Boring and Tilton; Peabody, Wilson and Brown; Holabird and Root; John B. Peterkin; York and Sawyer; Jackson, Robinson and Adams; George Vernon Russell; John H. Barry; Pliny Rogers; Allen and De Young; Augustus N. Allen; Henry Ives Cobb, Jr.; Bottomley, Wagner and White; Andrew J. Thomas; Harvey Stevenson; R.A. Tissington; John C. Dodd; Walker and Gillette; Grosvenor Atterbury, John Tompkins Assoc.; Donn Barber; Wakefield Worcester; Farrar and Watmough; Henry Wright II; Ralph Thomas Walker; Schultze and Weaver; Henry B. Marsh; Hunter McDonnell; and a few unidentified architects

This collection contains architectural drawings, and some supplementary archival materials, for buildings primarily designed or altered by Sylvan Bien alone or in partnership with his son, Robert L. Bien. Most of the projects represented in this collection are apartment buildings located in New York City, particularly on the Upper East Side, with some work in surrounding regions and states. In several cases, drawings by the original architect for buildings later altered or studied by Bien are also included in this collection. Lastly, a small group of drawings created by Robert Bien while with Eggers Group is also included.

Architectural drawings for 14 projects designed by the firm, dating from circa 1911 to 1960.