This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
This collection of drawings, photographs and papers documents the architectural history of the William B. Osgood Field family in Lenox, Massachusetts, and New York City from the period 1908 through the 1920s. The bulk of the collection focuses on High Lawn, the private house and working farm located in Lee, MA. Several architects were commissioned to design buildings at High Lawn, including Delano & Aldrich, Alfred Hopkins, and John C. Greenleaf. The collection contains more than 450 drawings, 334 photographs (mostly construction photos of High Lawn Farm), specifications, general project files, and project correspondence between 1908-1914. In addition to the farm in Lee, MA, the collection also contains drawings for several buildings in New York City. There are alteration drawings by Stuart & Stuart (1903) and Hunt and Hunt (1911) for the Field's family home at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York. There are also drawings for a commercial building by John C. Greenleaf for 8 and 10 West 37th Street.
1908-1929
Gift of the Family of Mr. and Mrs. Helm George Wilde, 2007.004
This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Source of acquisition--Mr. and Mrs. Helm George Wilde. Method of acquisition--Donated;; Date of acquisition--2007. Accession number--2007.004.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
High Lawn, a private house and working farm known today as High Lawn Farm, was one of the first summer estates built by the firm of Delano & Aldrich. High Lawn was built as a summer residence for Lila Vanderbilt Sloane as a present from her father upon her marriage to William B. Osgood Field. While the farm had been in production since 1900, the house was constructed beginning in 1908 as a Georgian Revival house reflecting the French training of its architects. Delano & Aldrich also laid out the grounds, designed the Gate Lodge, and the interiors of the main house; the drawings for the property suggest that their involvement ended about 1912.
Two other architects were largely responsible for the construction of the farm buildings. During the years 1906-1912, the architect Alfred Hopkins designed a number of farm structures at the site. Hopkins was followed by a Lenox-born, New York architect, John C. Greenleaf, whose work at High Lawn spans nearly a decade. His works include the Garage and Carriage House (1912), the Milk Truck Garage (1912), the Main Barn and Water Tower (1916), the Playhouse and Studio (1916), and the Workshop (1920).
In addition to High Lawn, the Field's maintained a family home at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. 645 Fifth and its neighbor 647 Fifth were designed by Hunt and Hunt in 1902-5 for George W. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Field's uncle, who lived across Fifth Avenue in the Vanderbilt Mansion built by R.M. Hunt.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.