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The Avery Architectural and Fine Arts
Library at Columbia University in the City of New York,
was founded in 1890 in memory of Henry Ogden Avery,
a promising young architect who died prematurely. Beginning
with two thousand books, the collection has grown to
more than 350,000 books on architecture, historic preservation,
art history, painting, sculpture, graphic arts, decorative
arts, city planning, real estate, and archaeology. It
is one of the preeminent architectural libraries in
the world.
The Drawing Collection of the Avery Architectural
and Fine Arts Library was formed around the nucleus
of the Henry Ogden Avery drawings given to Columbia
University in 1890 as part of the foundation of the
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library. Today, the
collection contains approximately one million drawings,
photographs, letters, and manuscripts relating to architecture
and architects. The collection grew dramatically in
the 1970s when scholars began to realize the importance
of original architectural drawings as primary source
materials. Many of the records of America’s most
noteworthy architects are housed at the Avery Architectural
and Fine Arts Library including those of Richard Upjohn,
Alexander Jackson Davis, Warren & Wetmore, Stanford
White, Gordon Bunshaft, Philip Johnson, and Greene &
Greene.
Greene & Greene documents were donated
to Avery Library in 1960 by Jean Murray Bangs. Charles
and Henry Greene had provided the records to Ms. Bangs
while she prepared to write a book on the Greenes’
work. A second group of records, mainly photographs,
was donated to the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts
Library after the death of Ms. Bangs by her husband,
architect Harwell Hamilton Harris. The Greene &
Greene collection consists of 4,764 drawings, 585 photographs,
and two boxes of archival material, the dates ranging
from ca. 1896-1931. The Greene & Greene drawings
represent approximately 120 projects with related notes,
correspondence, and specifications for designs located
primarily in California.
Avery Architecture and Fine Arts Library
Columbia University in the City of New York
1172 Amsterdam Ave.
New York, NY 10027
212-854-6738
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/avery/
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