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, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
This collection contains reprographic architectural drawings for the Empire State Building; photographs of the demolition of the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which occupied the Fifth Avenue site; photographs of the Empire State Building under construction, circa 1930-1931 (one photograph shows former governor Alfred E. Smith standing in the building during construction), including 232 photographs by photographer Lewis Hine; photographs showing the building after completion, circa 1931-1956; scrapbooks of clippings of articles about the building, 1930-1957; and illustrations of the Empire State Building, circa 1930s-1960s. These subgroups of materials also have records in CLIO with more detailed descriptions of items; for these records, please search under "Empire State Building" or "Shreve, Lamb & Harmon" or "Hine, Lewis Wickes".
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, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Empire State Building archive. Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Source of acquisition--Gifts. Accession number--1964.001, 1971.003.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
Construction on the Empire State Building was begun in March 1930 and was completed in May 1931. It was designed by Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon for their clients, Alfred E. Smith and Empire State, Inc.
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.
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