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This collection contains architectural drawings, and some supplementary archival materials, for buildings primarily designed or altered by Sylvan Bien alone or in partnership with his son, Robert L. Bien. Most of the projects represented in this collection are apartment buildings located in New York City, particularly on the Upper East Side, with some work in surrounding regions and states. In several cases, drawings by the original architect for buildings later altered or studied by Bien are also included in this collection. Lastly, a small group of drawings created by Robert Bien while with Eggers Group is also included.

This collection contains original and reprographic architectural drawings for two properties occupied by the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan. These include the former James A. Burden, Jr., residence at 7 E. 91st St., designed by the New York architectural firm of Warren, Wetmore & Morgan in 1902-1903; and the Otto H. Kahn residence at 1 E. 91st St., designed by New York architect C. P. H. Gilbert in 1916-1918.

Files of the company, 1911-1920, much of which consists of unsucessful architectural bid documents, each noting the architect, building, and location, as well as estimated costs, sketches, and related correspondents. These bid documents represent commissions not awarded to NYATCC, and do, in some cases, indicate the outcome of the bid. Architects represented include McKim, Mead & White; Cass Gilbert; George Post; D.H. Burnham & Company; Warren & Wetmore, Schwartz & Gross, and many others. Also includes correspondence and office memoranda, including some describing the formative years, 1911-1914, of the National Terra Cotta Society, trade catalogs, and job photographs. Also, two albums containing photographs of sample pieces of terra cotta, and month by month construction records for three buildings, including the American Theater (42nd Street, New York, 1892) by Charles Coolidge Haight; the Renaissance Apartments (Brooklyn, N.Y., 1889) and the Imperial Apartments (Brooklyn, N.Y., 1890) both by Montrose Morris.