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Finding aid in repository;project-level control
Drawings are organized by project.
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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.
Sylvan and Robert L. Bien architectural drawings. Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library. Columbia University, New York, NY.
Avery Drawings & Archives maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator or their heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron. Contact avery-drawings@columbia.edu for more information.
Source of acquisition--Gifts from Robert L. Bien and Estate of Robert L. Bien. Accession number--1997.008;1998.007; 1998.009; 1999.010; 2000.010; 2003.002.
Sylvan Bien (1893-1959) was born in Austria and emigrated to San Francisco in the mid-1910s to assist in the design of the Panama-Pacific Exposition. He moved to New York City and from 1919 to 1923 he worked in the office of Warren & Wetmore. By the 1930s, Bien had his own practice in New York City, largely designing apartment buildings and hotels. Among his prominent early designs were the Hotel Carlyle, the Beverly Hotel, and the Grolier Building. After World War II, Bien was also noted for designing many modernist apartment buildings in New York City, including 900 Fifth Avenue, Schwab House, and the Coliseum Park Apartments. Robert L. Bien (1924-2002) received a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1949 from Cornell and became a parter in his father's firm in 1950. In 1967, Robert Bien joined Eggers & Higgins, later the Eggers Group and Hillier/Eggers, and practiced there until 1996.
Publications about described materials note.