Collection temporarily unavailable for use due to conservation. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
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.
Drawings are organized by project.
Collection temporarily unavailable for use due to conservation. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Permission to publish must be obtained in writing from the Director, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, 1172 Amsterdam Ave., MC 0301, New York, NY 10027.
Sylvan and Robert L. Bien architectural drawings. Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library. Columbia University, New York, NY.
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.
Publications about described materials note.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
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.
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.
| Subject | ||
|---|---|---|
| Apartment houses -- New York (State) -- New York | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |
| Architecture -- United States -- Designs and plans | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |