Historical/Biographical Note
The position of University Architect was created in 1924 with the designation of Professor Fiske Kimball (1888-1955) as such. Kimball had joined NYU's faculty in 1922 as a lecturer on art in the school=s Extramural division. The following year was named Morse Professor of the Literature of the Arts of Design and took charge of the newly-created Department of Fine Arts. As University Architect, Kimball advised the school on architectural matters such as the development of the University Heights campus and the design of the law school center in the late 1940s. While he resigned his professorship in 1925 to take the post of director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, he continued in the position of University Architect on a part-time basis for thirty years, until his death in 1955.
The position was revived in 1960 with the hiring of Joseph J. Roberto. Expansion of the university's academic and research programs had spurred significant building activity in the 1950s, Loeb Student Center and the Medical Center among the projects undertaken. Anticipating increasing enrollments in the 1960s, NYU's plans for the decade ahead included further physical development. The administration believed that such a program demanded the appointment of a full-time architect to determine immediate needs and anticipate potential growth. The responsibilities of the University Architect position, one of only about thirty in the nation, included the handling of programming, real estate, mechanical services, use and site planning, and architectural design matters. In this new post, Roberto's functions were to set aesthetic standards and to make recommendations for the selection of outside architects.
Joseph Roberto had graduated from New York University's School of Architecture in 1935. After serving as a major in the Air Force in World War II, Roberto practiced architecture in New York for twelve years, specializing in institutional buildings. His first professional involvement with the university came in 1951, when he was engaged to design the School of Retailing's facilities in the Main Building.
Roberto originally reported to Vice President of Business Affairs George F. Baughman, but by September 1961 had been transferred to the office of Charles R. Cox, head of the university's capital development program. Later that autumn the position of University Architect was moved under the auspices of a new office, that of the Director of Planning and Supervising Architect, which was created by President Carroll V. Newsom. Baughman and Chancellor George Stoddard had proposed the new position, which was given the responsibility for developing and presenting the university's building program, working with administrative and faculty committees, and acting as a liaison with architectural firms. The administration engaged Martin L. Beck for the post. An architect in private and associated practice, Beck had developed expansion plans for several universities, including Long Island University, where he had worked with James Hester. Beck was responsible for making recommendations relating to budgets, the selection of outside architects and engineers, and space utilization matters. Beck supervised the University Architect's execution of duties involving the latter.
The position of Director of Planning and Supervising Architect was discontinued upon Beck's retirement in 1966. After that point Beck served as Consulting Architect to the Office of the Chancellor and Executive Vice President. After 1968, Roberto reported to Director of Planning and Construction Joseph Schober, within the Office of the Vice President for Institutional Facilities, but by the mid-1970s the Office of the University Architect again functioned independently. In 1977 Joseph Roberto retired upon reaching mandatory retirement age and the post was discontinued. Roberto continued to consult for the university, however, through the mid-1980s.
Sources:
"Architects for NYU" Reference File, Archives H
News Release, July 1, 1960
Beck, Martin biographical file
Chancellor's Office Records. Elmer Ellsworth Brown. (R.G. 3.0.3) Box 34, Folder 15
Chancellor's Office Records. Harry Woodburn Chase. (R.G. 3.0.3) Box 34, Folder 15
Director of Planning and Supervising Architect, Annual Reports
Kimball, Fiske biographical file
President's Office Records. James M. Hester. (R.G. 3.0.3) Box 1, Folder 15
Roberto, Joseph biographical file
University Directories
Return to topScope and Content Note
The records of the Office of the University Architect/Joseph J. Roberto span the years 1928-1987, with the bulk of the material covering the period 1960-1987. These records delineate the activities of Roberto=s office and those of the Director of Planning and Supervising Architect, Martin Beck (1961-1966), whose office records Roberto assumed upon Beck=s departure. Primary correspondents include top university officials like the President, financial officers within the university, officials in the Plant and Properties office and other departments responsible for the school=s physical plant, deans and faculty members, architects, engineers, contractors and consultants, city and neighborhood leaders, and professional colleagues.
The collection documents one of the periods of New York University=s most prolific physical expansion. During the 1960s the university erected a number of major structures at the Washington Square, University Heights, and other university centers, including Philip Johnson=s Bobst library, I. M. Pei=s University Towers, the Technology II Building, and the award-winning Warren Weaver Hall. Though New York University=s building program stalled in the 1970s as the school experienced a financial crisis (which necessitated the sale of the University Heights campus), several more modest projects were completed that decade and in early 1980s , such as the Hagop Kevorkian Center. The Roberto Collection illustrates these building efforts in great detail, documenting construction projects, alterations of extant buildings (including the renovations of historic buildings like the Washington Square North row houses), and proposed structures never ultimately built. Space planning for the university, one of Roberto's chief responsibilities, represents another major topic covered by the records.
The university's strategic plans for its physical layout are also revealed by this collection. For example, several files deal with Philip Johnson's unrealized arcade-style plan for the Washington Square Campus in the early 1960s. New York University=s building initiatives affected the surrounding neighborhoods, and consequently the records of the University Architect include material on issues like zoning and urban renewal. Also included are records relating to historic preservation and restoration activities (in which Roberto was deeply involved ) at NYU, in New York City, and elsewhere. Among Roberto's projects documented in the collection are the renovation of the Old Merchant's House and the rehabilitation of Washington Square Park.
Though the collection is most comprehensive in its coverage of New York University's physical growth after 1960, the year in which Roberto assumed the office of University Architect, it also contains some material related to initiatives undertaken from the 1920s through the 1950s, such as the construction of the Loeb Student Center. Documentation is most extensive through the late 1960s. The quantity of records is smaller for the years leading up to and following Roberto's retirement in 1977 (after which he worked on a consulting basis), but nevertheless provides a good picture of the university's building program in that period.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
SERIES 1: ADDRESS & TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES AND APPOINTMENT BOOKS 1965-1981 (Box 1) Includes Roberto's personal appointment and address books as well as institutional telephone lists and directories of NYU personnel.
SERIES 2: MEETING MINUTES 1961-1966 (Box 1) Includes minutes of meetings of committees and with administrators in which Roberto and Beck participated. Also contains minutes of meetings dealing with architectural and planning matters but which did not include Roberto.
SERIES 3: CORRESPONDENCE 1928-1968 (Boxes 2-5) Includes monthly chronological correspondence files for the Offices of the University Architect and the Director of Planning and Supervising Architect covering the period of the early through late 1960s, as well as correspondence organized by the offices' particular functions such as coordinating alterations and space allocation. Contains correspondence from architects and other building professionals offering their services to the university. Files organized by correspondent include correspondence between Roberto's and Beck's offices and university administrators, as well as internal and external communications among administrators. Also contains Martin Beck's correspondence with friends and professional associates, as well as a file of the correspondence of previous University Architect Fiske Kimball transferred to Roberto by administrator Frederick Knauth in 1974.
SERIES 4: PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS 1961-1986 (Box 5) Contains Roberto's correspondence with fellow members of architectural organizations. Includes files on the 1964 meeting of the Association of University Architects held at NYU
SERIES 5: FINANCIAL AND BUDGET FILES 1960-1973 (Box 6) Correspondence, Memoranda, tables, and charts detailing financing, fund raising, budgetary, and expense information for the university's physical plant and building program.
SERIES 6: PROGRESS REPORTS 1965-1970 (Box 6) Reports submitted by Joseph Schober of Plant and Properties Office, Structural Engineer Jules Gagnon, Plant Engineer R. K. Bedell and Construction Coordinator R. E. Rapp detailing the progress of construction and alteration and design projects at all NYU Centers. Also includes general project status listings.
SERIES 7: MASTER PLANNING AND SPACE ALLOCATION 1960-1972 (Box 7) Contains internal and external correspondence, memoranda, notes, news clippings, news releases, and meeting minutes relating to the comprehensive architectural programs for the Washington Square and University Heights centers, including the Philip Johnson plan for the former. Correspondents include university administrators, municipal officials and community leaders, and architects such as Philip Johnson and Richard Foster. Also includes correspondence, memoranda, notes, reports, charts, tables on space availability, requirements, and allocation at the Washington Square and University Heights centers.
SERIES 8: HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND HISTORICAL ACTIVITIES 1962-1985 (Box 8) Includes correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, notes, news clippings, brochures and other printed matter relating to New York City and NYU historic preservation initiatives, as well as material on the architectural history of the university and the city. Also contains records of historical activities such as the commemorations of NYU's sesquicentennial and the U.S. bicentennial.
SERIES 9: FORMS AND REFERENCE MATERIALS 1953-1977 (Boxes 8-9) Contains forms and guidelines relating to dealings with architects, engineers, and contractors. Also includes comprehensive city building laws and architectural reference publications.
SERIES 10: ROOM DATA SHEETS: WASHINGTON SQUARE & UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS 1962-1967 (Boxes 9-10) Comprises forms describing the features of rooms in buildings at the Washington Square and University Heights centers.
SERIES 11: BUILDING FILES: WASHINGTON SQUARE CENTER 1934-1987 (Boxes 11-24) Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, charts, notes, drawings, news clippings, and printed matter relating to the designing, planning, construction, alteration, and space allocation for buildings of the Washington Square Campus and related topics, organized alphabetically by building or topic.
SERIES 12: BUILDING FILES: UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS CENTER 1947-1977 (Boxes 25-27) Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, charts, notes, drawings, news clippings, and printed matter relating to the designing, planning, construction, alteration, and space allocation for buildings of the University Heights Campus and related topics, organized alphabetically by building or topic.
SERIES 13: BUILDING FILES: OTHER UNIVERSITY CENTERS 1946-1978 (Box 28) Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, charts, notes, drawings, news clippings, and printed matter relating to the designing, planning, construction, alteration, and space allocation for buildings of the Graduate Business, Medical, Dental Centers, the Institute of Fine Arts, the Sterling Forest/University Valley complex, and other facilities and related topics, organized alphabetically by center or topic.
SERIES 14: BUILDING FILES: WASHINGTON SQUARE NEIGHBORHOOD AND NON-NYU PROPERTIES 1944-1986 (Box 29) Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, charts, notes, drawings, floor plans, news clippings, printed matter relating to the Washington Square neighborhood and properties in New York City and elsewhere not owned by NYU. Records document renovation projects (such as that of Washington Square Park in the 1960s and 1970s) and historic restoration programs (such as the Old Merchant's House) in which Roberto participated. Also contains records relating to private architectural work undertaken by Roberto.
SERIES 15: ARCHITECT, ENGINEER, & BUILDER PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS 1958-1970 (Boxes 30-31) Brochures and promotional binders presented to the offices of the University Architect and the Director of Planning and Supervising Architect by architects, engineers, and contractors.
SERIES 16: OVERSIZE 1960-1982 (Boxes 32-33) Publications, drawings, plan books, and other material related to the buildings of the several NYU centers and other architectural projects.
Note: An "[O]" following a folder topic indicates the presence of related material within the Oversize series.
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Related Material at the New York University Archives
Guide to the Administrative Papers of President James McNaughton Hester, 1962-1975 (R.G. 3.0.3 )
The Records of Librarian Charles Gosnell
Guide to the Administrative Papers of Chancellor Elmer Ellsworth Brown, 1900-1937
Guide to the Harry Woodburn Chase Papers, 1933-1951
Return to topSeparated Material
There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.
Return to topRestrictions
Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the:
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2646
Fax: (212) 995-4070
E-mail: university.archives@library.nyu.edu
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Administrative Information
Provenance
The records of University Architect Joseph J. Roberto were transferred from the University Architect=s office to the University Archives in 1989. This collection encompasses the records both the University Architect=s Office and the Office of the Director of Planning and Supervising Architect, to which it reported during the first half of the 1960s. Martin Beck, who held the latter position, passed his correspondence on to Roberto on a daily basis and transferred files to Roberto upon vacating the position. The collection originally comprised over 60 linear feet of material. Separation of folded blueprints and the disposal of duplicates, transmittal sheets, photographs, and printed matter reduced the collection to 32 linear feet. Blueprints have been removed to flat files and photographs to the Archives' photograph collection. The bulk of this material falls between the years 1960 to 1987, with some documents dating to 1928. Paul Breck and Angela Chin appraised and accessioned the records, and Erika Gorder and Stephen Urgola processed the collection. Mr. Urgola assumed responsibility for the final arrangement of the records, and created the finding aid.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); The Records of the Office of the University Architect/Joseph J. Roberto Collection;
RG 11.4; box number; folder number;
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Container List
[The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.]
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