William Adams Delano collection
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Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The William Adams Delano Collection contains photographs and drawings documenting his education in Paris, and some photographs of the projects his architecture firm designed.
Biographical Note
William Adams Delano (1874-1960) was born in New York, was a graduate of the Lawrenceville School and Yale University, and studied architecture at Columbia University and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. After working in the New York firm of Carrere & Hastings, he formed a design firm with Chester Holmes Aldrich (1871-1940) in 1903
Further information on Delano and his firm can be found in Peter Pennoyer and Anne Walker, The Architecture of Delano & Aldrich (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 2003). The book includes a chronology of the architects' life and design projects.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in the following series:
Series I. Photographs
Series II. Student Drawings
Series III. Commissions
Oversize material from Series I.
Scope and Contents
The William Adams Delano Collection spans the period from 1899 through the 1940s; it contains photographs and drawings documenting his education in Paris, and some of the projects his architecture firm designed.
Subjects
Organizations
Topics
Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
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
This collection should be cited as William Adams Delano Collection, PR 244, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of William Adams Delano, May 29, 1956, and June 28, 1956.
About this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
Series I: Photographs
Scope and Contents note
Series I holds vintage original photographs of buildings designed by the firm of Delano & Aldrich. They are arranged in two subseries: Commissions, and Competition Drawings, filed alphabetically by the name of the client. Commissions includes homes and estates, academic buildings at Cornell and Yale universities, private clubs, and government buildings, primarily in the United States. Competition drawings are photographs of presentation drawings made for potential commissions. No attempt was made to assign dates to either the photographs or the projects. Photographers included are Mattie Edwards Hewitt, Drix Duryea, Sigurd Fischer, and Wurts Brothers.
Subseries I: Commissions
Scope and Contents note
Photographs are arranged alphabetically by client.
Astor, Vincent, Sands Point, NY
Baker, George F., Jr., New York, NY
Brook Club, New York, NY
Burden, James A., estate (Woodside), Syosset, NY
Chapin School, New York, NY
Cornell University, Willard Straight Hall, Ithaca, NY
Debevoise, Thomas, Green Village, [NJ?]
Delano & Aldrich, New York, NY
Dutch Reformed Church, Brookville, NY
John F. Kennedy Airport, New York, NY
Kahn, Otto H., estate (Oheka), Cold Spring Harbor, NY
Kips Bay Boys Club, New York, NY
La Guardia Airport, New York, NY
Morawetz, Victor, estate (Three Ponds), Woodbury, NY
Staten Island Savings Bank, New York, NY
Straight, Willard D., New York, NY
Straight, Willard D., Westbury, NY
1040 Park Avenue, New York, NY
Tree, Ronald F., estate (Mirador), Greenwood, VA
Tuck, William H., estate, Waterloo, Belgium
Union Club, New York, NY
United States Government Building, Paris, France--Interiors and floor plans
United States Government Building, Paris, France--Exteriors
United States Post Office Department, Washington, DC
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt, Westbury, NY
Wood, Chalmers, estate (Little Ipswich), Syosset, NY
Yale University, Sage Hall, New Haven, CT
Yale University, Sterling Chemistry Laboratory, New Haven, CT
Yale University, Sterling Divinity School, New Haven, CT
Yale University, William L. Harkness Hall, New Haven, CT
Yale University, Wright Memorial Hall, New Haven, CT
Subseries I: Competitions
Scope and Contents note
Photographs are arranged alphabetically by competition.
Chateau des Beaux-Arts, Huntington, NY
Federal Reserve Bank, New York, NY
Federal Reserve Board [Washington, DC?]
Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
New Haven City Hall, New Haven, CT
New York City Court Courthouse, New York, NY
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, DC
United States Department of Justice [Washington, DC?]
Waterbury City Hall, Waterbury, CT
Unidentified airport [?] retail plaza and parking lot [?]
Frick Residence (East 71st Street elevation, courtyard and garden), New York, NY
Scope and Contents
small pencil drawings
Unidentified theatre
Series II: Student Drawings
Scope and Contents note
Series II contains twenty-one drawings, dating from 1899 to 1901, made by Delano during his years as a student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. While in Paris, Delano was part of the atelier of Victor-Alexandre-Frederic Laloux (1850-1937), a noted architect and one of the academy's great instructors. For further explanation and discussion of these drawings, see Peter Pennoyer's article on Delano as a student in the New-York Journal of American History, number 4.
Drawings are arranged in two subseries by date, with undated drawings filed last. Unless otherwise noted, all drawings are graphite, ink, and wash on light paperboard, and uniform in size: 24-3/4 x 18-3/4 in. Titles given were inscribed by Delano [and descriptions in brackets for untitled drawings].
Subseries I: Exercises, Dated
Etablissement Financier, 1899 Jan. 4
General note
[screen on Legion of Honor?]
Un Theatre Municipal, 1899 Jan. 16
Un Poste de Pompiers, 1899 Jan. 21
General note
[firehouse]
Une Ecurie d'Etat, 1899 Jan. 23
General note
[classical doorway]
Salle des pas Perdus, 1899 Feb. 10
General note
[courthouse waiting room]
Une Fontaine Monumentale, 1899 Feb. 11
Un Etablissement Thermal, 1899 Mar. 2
General note
[casino facade?]
Entree d'une Cour d'Honneur, 1899 Mar. 8
General note
[domed classical facade]
[Hotel Crillon, Place de la Concorde, measured drawing], 1899 Mar. 21
Un Pavillon de Repos, 1899 Mar. 22
Une Salle de Lecture, 1899 Mar. 31
[Untitled classical portico and facade, six columns], 1899 Apr. 7
[Untitled aquarium/marine laboratory facility], 1899 Sep. 6
General note
watercolor, graphite, and ink on paper, 11-7/8 x 16 in.
Coupe parle cour de service..., 1899 Dec. 6
General note
[slaughterhouse and market]; graphite and ink on gray paper, 23-7/8 x 17-3/4 in.
[Untitled design for public park], 1900 Feb. 7
General note
brown ink and graphite on paper, 23-7/8 x 19 in.
[Untitled animal study/care facility], 1901
General note
conte crayon and wash on Bristol board, 24-1/2 x 16-7/8 in.
Subseries II: Exercises, Undated
Une Bourse Maritime, [ca. 1899]
Un Hotel de Ville, [ca. 1899]
General note
[city hall]
[Unidentified building, rez de chaussee (ground floor)], [ca. 1899]
[Untitled lecture hall], [ca. 1899]
General note
[perspective projection exercises]
[Untitled classical facade, perhaps archeological exercise], [ca. 1899]
General note
graphite on paper mounted on board, 19-3/4 x 18-1/4 in.
Series III: Commissions
Scope and Contents note
Series III holds just three minor drawings for projects designed by Delano. Probably the most historically important inclusion is the only existing rendering of the first house ever designed by Delano, created for the mother of a friend in Ontario, Canada.
Drawings are arranged chronologically.
Shaw, Mrs., Murray Bay, Ontario, Canada, house rendering, 1902 Dec.
General note
ink wash on paper mounted on pulpboard, 21-3/4 x 21 in.
Wood, Chalmers, Syosset, NY, house plan, [1927-1928]
General note
graphite and ink on paper mounted on board, 9-3/4 x 13-3/4 in.
White House, Washington, DC, main hall, 1949 Sep. 29
General note
colored pencil on paper mounted on board, 10-1/2 x 18-1/2 in.
Oversize Material from Series I: Photographs
Scope and Contents note
Series III holds just three minor drawings for projects designed by Delano. Probably the most historically important inclusion is the only existing rendering of the first house ever designed by Delano, created for the mother of a friend in Ontario, Canada.