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Collection contains watercolor renderings, sketches, technical drawings (ground plans, elevations and details), photographs, glass plate and acetate negatives, scrapbooks, set models and some related papers covering Urban's career in Vienna and New York as an architect, set designer, decorator and illustrator. There is a thorough representation of his New York career including his set designs for Florenz Ziegfeld (1915-1932) and the Metropolitan Opera (1917-1933). The collection also contains information on Urban's work for William Randolph Hearst as art director for Cosmopolitan Studios, his exhibitions including his 1921 Wiener Werkstätte store, and his many architectural projects. Biographical information and research gathered by Richard Cole and Randolph Carter including contributions from his daughter,Gretl Urban, and biographical notes and some letters from his widow, Mary Urban, are also present.

This artificial collection consists of oversized posters, maps, newspapers, drawings, floor plans and architectural plans related to Columbia events, people and locations. The collection has been organized by subject matter.

Architectural drawings and photographs of architectural drawings with some related correspondence of residential and public buildings, churches, libraries, theaters, monuments, and bridges including: the Henry Hudson Bridge, Triborough Bridge, and the Manhattan Bridge in New York; Edward Henry Harriman's Arden House in Harriman, N.Y.; the Alfred I. Dupont mansion in Roslyn, N.Y.; the David A. Reed house in Washington, D.C.; the reconstruction of the Grand Army Plaza in New York City; the Memorial Amphitheater for Arlington National Cemetery; and various bicentennial buildings for Yale University. Of note are drawings of the grounds, details of buildings, and furniture for the New York Public Library, 1908-1909.