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George B. Post architectural records

Call Number

PR 53

Date

circa 1860–1997 (bulk, 1880–1980), inclusive

Creator

Post, George Browne, 1837-1913.
George B. Post & Sons

Extent

approximately 1,014 Linear feet in 356 boxes of various size and 21 flat file drawers.

Language of Materials

The documents in the collection are in English.

Abstract

Records of the architectural firms of George B. Post and George B. Post & Sons. Among their best-known commissions are the Long Island Historical Society (1878–1879) [now Center for Brooklyn History], New York Stock Exchange (1901–1904) and the Wisconsin State Capitol (1904–1907). The collection consists of circa 8,600 architectural drawings, ink on linen and blueprints; circa 200 watercolor renderings, ink drawings, and pencil sketches; 75 packages of specifications; 5 albums of photographs; 1,000 separate photographs; 2 clipping scrapbooks (1882-1903); 5 letterpress books (1867-1884); circa 1,700 incoming letters (1872-1875); 1 ledger and 1 journal of Gambrill & Post (1864-1867); circa 60 financial ledgers and journals (1868-1951); 2 volumes of personnel employment records (1881-1918); 1 package of publications by firm members.

Biographical / Historical

George B(rowne) Post (b. New York City, 1837; d. Bernardsville, N.J., 1913) graduated from New York University in 1858 with a degree in civil engineering and worked as a draftsman for Richard Morris Hunt before opening an architectural office in New York in 1860 with Charles D. Gambrill. By 1868 Post had his own firm, and was engaged as the consulting architect in charge of elevators and ironwork for the Equitable Building (1868–70, demolished), considered the first skyscraper in New York City. He later designed the Western Union Building (1872–75, demolished) and used metal-framed interior walls in his New York Produce Exchange (1881–84, demolished) that anticipated the skeleton framing later adopted for skyscraper construction. Post is also known for such works as the Williamsburgh Savings Bank in Brooklyn (1868–75), the World (Pulitzer) Building (1889–90, demolished), the New York Stock Exchange (1901–4), and the campus of City College (1897–1907). His structural design skills and efficient, economical plans won him many honors, but only a handful of the more than 400 projects he undertook in New York City, Cleveland, Buffalo, and elsewhere have survived the urban rebuilding of the later twentieth century. Post is noted today for his tall arcaded buildings, which are among the first skyscrapers, and for his role in developing the modern office building. He also collaborated on lavish mansions for such clients as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Collis P. Huntington.

[This sketch combines details from Helena Zinkham, A Guide to Print, Photograph, Architecture & Ephemera Collections at The New-York Historical Society (New York: the Society, 1998), 124–25, and Sarah Bradford Landau, "George B(rowne) Post," in The Encyclopedia of New York City, 2nd edition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010), 1026–27. For more on Post, see Landau's George B. Post, Architect: Picturesque Designer and Determined Realist (New York: Monacelli Press, 1998); Winston Weisman, "George Browne Post," in Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects (New York: The Free Press, 1982), vol. 3, 460–63; and, especially, Lisa B. Mausolf, A Catalog of the Work of George B. Post, Architect (Columbia University Master's Thesis, 1983).]

Major works of George B. Post

1868–1870 Equitable Life Assurance Company Building, New York
1872 Troy Savings Bank, N.Y.
1873–1875 Western Union Building
1874–1875 Chickering Hall, New York
1875 Williamsburgh Savings Bank, Brooklyn, N.Y.
1875–1876 New York Hospital
1878–1879 Long Island Historical Society Building [later Brooklyn Historical Society; now Center for Brooklyn History], Brooklyn, N.Y.
1879–1880 Smith Building
1880–1881 Post Building
1881–1883 Mills Building
1881–1885 Produce Exchange
1882–1893 Cornelius Vanderbilt House
1883–1885 Cotton Exchange
1884 Mortimer Building, New York
1884–1885 Hamilton Club, Brooklyn, N.Y.
1888–1890 New York Times Building (now part of Pace College)
1889–1890 Pulitzer Building Union Trust Company Building, New York
1890 Prudential Life Insurance Company Building, Newark, N.J.
1890–1893 Erie County Savings Bank, Buffalo, N.Y.
1890–1894 C. P. Huntington House
1891–1892 Havemeyer Building, New York
1893 Manufacturers and Liberal Arts Building, Chicago Exposition
1894 Bank of Pittsburgh
1895–1898 Weld Building, New York
1896 Park Building, Pittsburgh 636–638 Broadway, New York
1897–1899 Saint Paul Building
1897–1908 The College of the City of New York
1898–1899 Vincent Building
1901–1904 New York Stock Exchange, New York
1904–1907 Wisconsin State Capitol, Madison
1907–1908 Cleveland Trust Company, Ohio
1901–1911 334 Fourth Avenue, New York
1911–1912 Hotel Pontiac, Detroit Statler Hotel
1912 Williamson Building, Cleveland, Ohio

Chronology of George Browne Post, Architect, New York City (1865-1904), and Geo. B. Post & Sons, Architects, New York City (1904-1972) and Huntington, New York (1972-1990s)

1860–1904 George Browne Post commenced his practice in New York City, with C. D. Gambrill as his partner. He practiced by himself from 1865 to 1904.
1904–1913 George Brown Post and his sons, William S. Post and James Otis Post, Partners
1913–1920 William S. Post and James Otis Post, Partners
1920–1929 William S. Post, James Otis Post, and W. Sydney Wagner, Partners
1930–1937 James Otis Post
1937–1939 James Otis Post, Knut W. Lind, Partners. Edward Everett Post, employee until military service, 1940
1939–1944 James Otis Post
1944–1949 James Otis Post, Lessing Witford Williams, Partners
1946 Edward Everett Post after Navy discharge joins firm
1949–1951 James Otis Post, Edward Everett Post, and Lessing Whitford Williams, Partners
1951–1967 Edward Everett Post, Lessing Whitford Williams, Partners
1966 Ralph C. Colyer joined firm; opened branch office in Huntington, New York
1967–1975 Edward Everett Post, Ralph C. Colyer, Partners
1972 Entire office moved from New York City to Huntington, Long Island (N.Y.)
1975–1985 Edward Everett Post, President. Ralph C. Colyer, Vice President until his death
1986–1988 Edward Everett Post, sole officer
1988–1990 Edward Everett Post, President, Douglas P. Mattoon, Vice President
1990– Edward Everett Post, sole officer

Arrangement

The collection is generally unprocessed, but is arranged in the following series:

Series I.
Rolled Drawings
Series II.
Flat Files
Series III.
Bound Volumes
Series IV.
Specifications
Series V.
Photographs and other material
Series VI.
2002 Accrual

Material is filed by format. Working drawings are in numbered sets according to project name; most renderings, competition entries, and sketches are alphabetical by project name; financial volumes are grouped by type (ledger, journal, cash book, staff pay record) and date; individual photographs are grouped by project name. Separate card indexes (in Subseries VI.A, Box 1, Enclosures 1-A and 1-B) provide access by project name for drawings and for photographs in two of the albums.

Perhaps the best guide to navigating the collection is Lisa B. Mausolf's 1983 Columbia University Masters Thesis, A Catalog of the Work of George B. Post, Architect (call no. PRINT ROOM NA737 .P63M3), which provides an alphabetical listing and chronological index to all of Post's known projects and indicates for which buildings the Society has study, presentation, and working drawings.

Scope and Contents

The Society's collection contains most of the surviving records of Gambrill & Post (1860–1867), Geo. B. Post (1868–1905), and Geo. B. Post & Sons (founded 1905). Projects before 1890—for example, the Equitable Life Assurance and Western Union buildings in New York City—are covered primarily through financial journals, correspondence, photographs, and some 50 sketches and watercolor renderings by Post and by Edward A. Sargeant. For later projects, more documentation is usually available, from competition entries and developmental studies to working drawings, construction progress photographs, specifications, business ledgers, and publicity clippings. Sets of drawings document some 30 large hotels; 20 office buildings, including the St. Paul Building, New York; 20 banks and exchanges, including the New York Produce Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange; 10 apartment buildings and housing developments; 5 schools and colleges, including the College of the City of New York; the Wisconsin State Capitol; and more than 50 residences, many designed by William S. Post for relatives and neighbors in Bernardsville, New Jersey. Late commissions include an omnibus garage and the Netherlands Pavilion at the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair.

Subjects

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, contact the Print Room Librarian at printroom@nyhistory.org. Portions of the collection are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Keep in mind that it will take between two (2) and five (5) business days for collections to arrive, and you should plan your research accordingly. The drawings in Subseries VI.F require one month to flatten and conserve before use.

Use Restrictions

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation

The collection should be cited as: George B. Post Architectural Records, PR 53, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, New-York Historical Society.

Location of Materials

Portions of the collection are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please contact printroom@nyhistory.org prior to your research visit to coordinate access. Keep in mind that it will take between two (2) and five (5) business days for collections to arrive, and you should plan your research accordingly. The drawings in Subseries VI.F require one month to flatten and conserve before use.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The bulk of the collection (Series I through V) was the gift of Edward E. Post, grandson of George B. Post, in 1956, with additions in 1972 and 1978. Series VI was the gift of Peter Post through Virginia Collyer, January 2003.

Collection processed by

Joseph Ditta

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:46:47 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Processing Information

The collection is largely unprocessed, with material grouped by format (e.g., rolled drawings, flat files, bound volumes, etc.). In 2020-2021, to ready the collection for shipment to offsite storage, archivist Joseph Ditta assembled this finding aid from disparate lists, spreadsheets, and inventories that had been created over time by earlier New-York Historical Society staff members.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024