Aymar Embury Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Embury, Aymar, 1880-
Title:	Aymar Embury Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1911-1964
Quantity:	22 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the American architect. Died 1966. Architectural drawings and designs; photographs and slides; material relating to bridge design, and articles by and about Embury.
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 http://scrc.syr.edu

Biographical History

Aymar Embury II (1880-1966) was an American architect. Born in New York City, he graduated from Princeton University in 1900 with both bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering in 1901, and began practicing architecture in New York City that same year.

Embury taught architecture at Princeton while also working for various firms in New York City, including Cass Gilbert, George B. Post, Howells & Stokes, and Palmer and Hornbostel. During the First World War he served as a captain with the 40th Engineers of the United States Army, and designed the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal (Army).

Embury's specialties were college buildings, urban and country houses, hotels, library buildings, banks, clubs and community buildings. He was the architect for college buildings at Princeton University, Kalamazoo College, and Hofstra College and created two housing developments. His most significant efforts, however, were in connection with Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, with whom he worked as architect and supervisor of a design and construction team that executed more than six hundred projects for the city of New York, including the Triborough Bridge, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Henry Hudson Memorial Bridge, the Whitestone Bridge, the Rainbow Bridge, the Jamaica Bay Bridge and The Port of New York Authority Terminal Building. Embury was also the architect for the New York City and Argentine Pavilions at the 1939 World's Fair held in New York City.

Embury was a member of the President's Advisory Committee on Architecture from 1934-1943. He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the New York Society of Architects. Mr. Embury is also the author of 100 Country Houses (1901), The Dutch Colonial House (1911), Country Houses (1914), Early American Churches (1914), The Liveable House (1917), and The Esthetics of Engineering Construction (1943).

Return to top

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Aymar Embury Papers contains writings, photographs, prints, sketches, shop drawings, published material. It consists of two separate accessions which have not been integrated. Note that the box numbering for the 1980 accession restarts with Box 1; when requesting items, be sure to specify both accession and box number to ensure retrieval of the correct container(s).

1967 Accession

The 1967 accession contains correspondence, a subject file, manuscripts and published material. Correspondence consists of one incoming and one outgoing piece of correspondence between Evans Kerrigan and Embury. Subject files contains engineer's drawings and a photograph of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City and stock designs done during the period that Embury was on the Advisory Committee on Architecture. Manuscripts consists of articles by Embury on architecture, engineering, the military, book reviews, short stories and biographical and autobiographical material. Published material includes designs by Embury that were reproduced in trade manuals and magazines, illustrations by Embury, a letter regarding the architectural plan for Hofstra College by Embury, and magazine articles about and by Embury and others.

1980 Accession

The 1980 accession consists of four series: Architecture, Writings, Miscellaneous, and Published Materials. Architecture contains mainly photographs of bridges, homes, buildings, etc. Writings includes an article on various bridge designs and also a formal letter to Hofstra College about architectural plans for their school. Miscellaneous has assorted unlabelled photographs, prints, shop drawings, sketches, lithographs. Finally, the last series, Published material, has one volume entitled A Parallel of Architecture.

Return to top

Arrangement of the Collection

1967 accession: Correspondence, Subject files, and Manuscripts are arranged alphabetically. Published material is arranged alphabetically by type and then alphabetically by title.

1980 accession: All three series are arranged alphabetically by type and then alphabetically by subject. Because the material is not arranged by project, material relating to a given building may appear in several different places. For example, the Congregational Church, Winnetka, IL is represented by both photographs and shop drawings.

Return to top

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on this material.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Return to top

Subject Headings

Persons

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Aymar Embury Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library

Finding Aid Information

Created by: DW
Date: 1980
Revision history: 29 April 2007 - converted to EAD (MRC)

Return to top

Inventory

	Correspondence (1967 accession)
Box 1		Incoming and Outgoing with Kerrigan, Evans E. 1964

	Subject files (1967 accession)
Box 1		Engineer's Drawing - Designs by Narrows Bridge 1959
Box 1		Photograph - Design by Verrazano-Narrows Bridge undated
Box 1		Stock Designs - President's Advisory Committee on Architecture undated

	Manuscripts (1967 accession)
Box 1		"Articles on Architectural and Engineering Design" undated (3 volumes)
Box 2		"Articles on Architecture in Europe, American Colonial and Mexico" undated
Box 2		Book Reviews undated
Box 2		Military articles undated
Box 2		Short stories and biographical sketches (including the autobiography of Embury) undated

	Published material (1967 accession)
		Designs by
Box 2			"Filling Stations" Pencil Point 1941
Box 2			"House of Richard F. Hoyt, New York City" Architecture undated
Box 2			"House of Arthur Lehman, New York City" Architecture 1934
Box 2			"House of O. F. Miller, Kalamazoo, Michigan" Architecture undated
Box 2			Moderne Bau Formen 1911
		Illustration by
Box 2			"A Center for Undergrad Life at Princeton," Princeton U. 1926
		Letter by
Box 2			Regarding the architectural plan for Hofstra College 1957
		Magazine articles by
Box 2			"Aesthetics of Bridge Design" Pencil Points 1938
Box 2			"Aesthetics of Concrete" Pencil Points 1938
Box 2			"Aesthetic Design of Steel Structures" Pencil Points 1938
Box 2			"The Architect and the Engineer" Civil Engineering Magazine 1938
Box 2			"Architecture in American Country Homes" The Mentor 1915
Box 2			"Breton Churches" The Architectural Record 1925
Box 2			"Engineering and Architecture" Journal of the American Institute of Architects 1944
Box 2			"Esthetics of Bridge Anchorage" Civil Engineering Magazine 1938
Box 2			"Esthetic Design of Steel Structures" Civil Engineering Magazine 1938
Box 2			"Forgotten Architectural Motif: The Moralaix Column" The Architectural Record 1924
Box 2			"The House of Tomorrow" Architecture 1934
Box 2			"How to Judge Architecture" House Beautiful 1912
Box 2			"The Plan's the Thing" Ladies' Home Journal 1936
		Magazine articles about
Box 2			"An Old Long Island Town Gains a Guild Hall Done in Brick" House and Garden 1932
Box 2			"Architects..." American Architect and Architecture 1938
Box 2			"Rebuild America" Architecture 1935
Box 2			"The Smiths of Wyncote, Pa." Modern Living undated
Box 2			"Some Work of Aymar Embury II in the Sand Hills of North Caroline" Architectural Record 1924
			undated ( Harper's and Pencil Points)
		Magazine Article by other
Box 2			"Some Plates with Directions for Use" Japanese student Architectural Record undated
		Pamphlets about
Box 2			Bridges 1940?
Box 2			Completion of the Henry Hudson Bridge 1938
Box 2			Prize Bridges, American Institute Steel Construction 1928-1937, 1936 (2 folders)

	Architecture (1980 accession)
		Negatives
Box 1			Kalamazoo Church
		Photographs
Box 1			Battery-Brooklyn Bridge and Battery Park
Box 1			First Congregational Church (Kalamazoo, Michigan)
Box 1			First Congregational Church (Springfield, Vermont)
Box 1			First Congregational Church (Springfield, Vermont) 1927
Box 1			Robert M. Gaylord Home
Box 1			Hofstra College (Hempstead, L.I.)
Box 1			Hofstra College Property (Hempstead, N.Y.)
Box 1			Hope Valley Country Club (Hope Valley, North Carolina)
Box 1			Johnson, Drake and Piper
Box 1			Junior High Schools (Queens, New York City) 1948
Box 1			Knickerbocker Country Club (Tenafly, New Jersey Frame Building)
Box 1			Maidstone Club (East Hampton, Long Island)
Box 1			Mid-Pines Country Club (Moore County, N. Carolina - Frame)
Box 1			Miscellaneous
Box 1			Mountain Brook Country Club
Box 1			New York City Building (World's Fair) 1939
Box 1			Princeton Club of New York
Box 1			Princeton-Dillon Gym 1961
Box 1			Princeton-Elm Club
Box 1			Princeton, New Jersey (Dillon Gymnasium)
Box 1			Princeton, New Jersey (Rockefeller Gymnasium)
Box 1			Princeton University (Princeton Student Activities Buildings)
Box 2			Princeton University (West College)
Box 2			St. George's Bridge (St. George's, Delaware)
Box 2			Southern Pines Country Club (Southern Pines, North Carolina - Stucco Building) 1923
Box 2			Stetson Chapel (Kalamazoo, Michigan-Kalamazoo College)
Box 2			Strosacker Memorial Church (Midland, Michigan)
Box 2			Tunnels, Bridges, Studies
Box 2			Watch Hill Chapel
Box 2			Whitestone Bridge
Box 2			World's Fair Photographs and Photostats 1939
		Prints
Box 2			The Charlotte Country Club (Charlotte, N.C.)
Box 2			Filling Stations (Dept. of Parks)
Box 2			Princeton, New Jersey (Faculty Housing Group)
		Shop drawings
Oversize 7			John C. Adams, East Hampton
Oversize 8			Donald Arthur residence, Lloyd's Neck
Oversize 9			Brook Haven Library
Oversize 10			Charlotte Golf Shop
Oversize 11			Civic Auditorium, Kalamazoo
Oversize 12			E. P. Coe Residence
Oversize 13			Congregational Church, Winnetka, IL
Oversize 14			Dupont Country Club
Oversize 15			First Presbyterian Church
Oversize 16			Robert Gaylord
Oversize 17			Guild Hall, East Hampton
Oversize 18			Guild Hall, East Hampton
Oversize 19			Harbor Acres Signs
Oversize 20			Hotel Merida
Oversize 22-24			Maidstone Club, East Hampton
Oversize 25			Men's dormitory, Kalamazoo
Oversize 26			Miscellaneous Prospect Park, Brooklyn, Merry Christmas, Gold House
Oversize 27			Misc. Kalamazoo College, Bowen Hall
Oversize 28			Mountain Brook
Oversize 29			William H. Phelps residence
Oversize 30			William H. Phelps residence
Oversize 31			George Roberts, East Hampton, LI
Oversize 32			Strosacker Memorial Presbyterian Church
Oversize 33			Strosacker Memorial Presbyterian Church
Oversize 34			Winnetka, IL, Church
		Sketches
Oversize 35			Dillon Gym, Research Bldg, Princeton, Vaux Hall Restaurant
Oversize 36			Park work, skating rinks, bldgs for Princeton and Hofstra
		Slides
Box 2			Princeton Gym

	Writings (1980 accession)
		Article
Box 2			"The Aesthetics of Bridge Design"
Box 2		Letter from Aymar Embury II Regarding Plan of College

	Miscellaneous (1980 accession)
		Lithographs
Oversize 21			J. Richard Rowe drawings of bridges, etc.
		Photographs, drawings, prints
Box 2			Photograph
Box 2			Photographs, Miscellaneous
Box 2			Photographs, Morrisania Housing (Bronx, N.Y.)
Oversize 1			Photographs, miscellaneous - Princeton University
Oversize 2			Photographs, miscellaneous - Bridges, NYC housing development (Bronx), Post Office, Beacon NY, public library
Oversize 3			Photographs, miscellaneous - NYC parks, First Cong. Church, Kalamazoo, Watch Hill, RI chapel, Cong. Church, Springfield, VT.
Oversize 4			Photographs, miscellaneous - Kalamazoo, MI bldgs., Princeton Club of NY, Charlotte Club, Mountain Brook Club, Birmingham, AL
Oversize 5			Photographs and drawings, miscellaneous - High level highway, low level railway bridge, Port Authority, Bldg., Hotel Merida, Dennison Saddle River, Post Office, Lakewood, NJ, Winnetka, IL Cong. Church, Hall and admin. bldg. (?) , Randall's Isl. gas station, Aqueduct Race Track, Jamaica Race Track
Oversize 6			Photographs and prints, miscellaneous - Bridges, Ottiman residence, Arthur Lehman residence
		Watercolors
Oversize 37			Queen's War Memorial, Nassau Hall, Princeton, park work, museum sketches, skating rinks.
		Memorabilia
			Desk blotter
				De-accessioned, 1984
Oversize 39			Book - A parallel of architecture

Return to top