McKim Mead and White at Avery
McKim, Mead & White was one of the leading American architectural firms of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They designed numerous civic, residential, and commercial buildings and were among the most sought-after architects by wealthy magnates of the Gilded Age, including William Payne Whitney and J. P. Morgan. While the firm was based in New York City, their projects spanned the United States. Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library occupies a building designed by McKim, Mead & White, and its collections contain numerous materials donated by the firm and its successors. The guide below provides an overview of holdings related to McKim, Mead & White spread across Avery’s special collections in order to make navigating these resources easier for researchers.
About the McKim, Mead & White photo albums
McKim, Mead & White was one of the preeminent New York architectural firms practicing at the turn of the twentieth century. Forty-three photographic albums of their work reside in Avery Classics, the rare book department of Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library. They worked in a neo-classical style heavily influenced by the teachings of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The original Pennsylvania Station railroad terminal and the campus of Columbia University number among their most well-known projects.
The McKim, Mead & White Firm Library
On March 1, 1975, Walter Goldwater of the University Place Book Shop submitted a formal appraisal of a collection of books, photographs, and archival material to Avery Library being offered by the successor firm to the storied New York architectural practice of McKim, Mead & White. Avery Library accepted this gift, and its many pieces have lived on in Avery Library across several collections – books were absorbed into the general research collection and Avery Classics, Avery Library’s rare book collection; photograph albums documenting the firm’s work also went to Avery Classics; and Drawings & Archives received the correspondence and a small selection of drawings.
McKim, Mead & White Archival Collections in Drawings & Archives
The McKim, Mead & White collection in Drawings & Archives contains architectural drawings and photographs of buildings designed by the firm from its founding to the 1950s. Among those represented are buildings at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago; Pennsylvania Railroad Station, New York; buildings at Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus; Boston Public Library; and various New York City residences. Additional collections containing McKim, Mead & White materials include Stanford White Correspondence & Architectural Drawings, Columbia University Architectural Drawings, and the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company Architectural Records.
McKim, Mead & White | Other Resources
Other resources related to McKim, Mead & White are held at the New York Historical Society and in the Buildings & Grounds Collection at Columbia University Archives. Detailed information and links are available from our Other Resources page.