George B. Post architectural records
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
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
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)
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
Organizations
Genres
People
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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
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.
About this Guide
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.