This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
This series documents approximately 200 of Conrad's architectural models. The documentation is primarily photographic; however, some projects include tear sheets and reprints featuring the model, some plans and drawings, and other related ephemera. The series is divided into four subseries. Subseries 1: By Architect comprises of 79 architectural models arranged alphabetically by the architect of the project. Subseries 2: By Project Title contains 22 architectural models for projects where the architect is unidentified. The models in this subseries are arranged alphabetically by project title. Subseries 3: Magazine Projects features 27 architectural models created as a magazine design project. The projects are arranged alphabetically by magazine and list the associated architect. Magazines represented are Collier's, Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, McCall's, and Womasnn's Home Companion House. Series 4: Unidentified Buildings includes 147 photographs for approximately 60 to 70 models. The models are from unidentified projects and architects and are arranged by building type.
This series contains billing and (primarily financial) correspondence for Conrad projects dating from the 1940s to the 2000s.
Series III: Professional Papers
The series includes general professional correspondence arranged chronologically from the 1940s to the 1980s, clippings and printed material featuring Conrad or models by Conrad, photographs of Conrad's various model workshops (including photographs of equipment and of construction of various models), papers related to Conrad's historic preservation efforts in Jersey City, and an album complied by Conrad documenting his work during the Second World War designing and fabricating models of aircraft for aircraft identification purposes.
This series contains photographs of Conrad, non-project related drawings, miscellaneous photographs, and papers related to Conrad's Selective Service in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
This series primarily includes trade catalogs on model making tools and materials. Additional reference material not related to models is also included in the series.
Series VI: Architectural Drawings
This series consists of architectural drawing reproductions (blueprints, diazo, etc) for 12 identified and unidentified architectural projects.
1937-1991
This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Columbia University is providing access to the materials in the Library's collections solely for noncommercial educational and research purposes. The unauthorized use, including, but not limited to, publication of the materials without the prior written permission of Columbia University is strictly prohibited. All inquiries regarding permission to publish should be submitted in writing to the Director, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. In addition to permission from Columbia University, permission of the copyright owner (if not Columbia University) and/or any holder of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) may also be required for reproduction, publication, distributions, and other uses. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of any item and securing any necessary permissions rests with the persons desiring to publish the item. Columbia University makes no warranties as to the accuracy of the materials or their fitness for a particular purpose.
Theodore Conrad papers, Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Source of acquisition--Doris Conrad Brown. Method of acquisition--Donated;; Date of acquisition--2015. Accession number--2015.015.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
This collection was processed by Oskar Arnorsson (Graduate Intern) under the supervision of Shelley Hayreh (Avery Archivist).
2016-11-18 File created.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Theodore Conrad was born in a house on 31 Griffith Street, Jersey City, New Jersey, on May, 19, 1910 to German immigrants. His father, Frederick Conrad, was a manager for the Hudson County Consumer's Brewery in Union City and his mother, Edoline Frerichs Conrad. His grandfather was a builder who constructed many of the houses in Conrad's Riverview Park neighborhood, piquing Conrad's interest in building at a young age. After studying draftsmanship at Dickinson High School in Jersey City, where he also received substantial workshop training, Conrad attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he was trained in the Beaux Arts tradition under Leopold Arnaud. At the age of 18, while still a student at Pratt, Conrad earned a summer internship at the office of Harvey Wiley Corbett, building a model of Corbett's proposal for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Building (never realized), documented in the collection. Conrad earned a full-time job at Corbett's firm upon graduation from Pratt, soon transferring the professional model making work for from Corbett's office to his own shop in the basement of 31 Griffith Street, effectively starting his own business in 1931. As his practice grew, he moved into his own home on 248 Ogden Avenue, while setting up shop next door in an old jewelry factory on 250 Ogden Avenue. The collection includes thorough photographic documentation of Conrad's workshops.
During WWII Conrad was hired by the Navy to design and fabricate models of enemy aircraft which were photographed and published in brochures for identification purposes. The archive holds one such aircraft model, as well as a number of photographs used for the brochures, as well as copies of the brochures themselves. He was also commissioned by the Army to design a plan to camouflage Paterson, NJ, by producing fake rivers to confuse German fighter pilots.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Conrad's enterprise became the largest in the country, at its height employing 26 men and women. His assignments include work for McKim Mead and White, Edward Durell Stone, Louis Kahn, Mies van der Rohe and Skidmore Owings and Merrill, many of whom are in the collection. Conrad was a pioneer in the use of plastics and metals for models instead of the more traditional materials of wood, plaster and cardboard, making the switch in 1936. He was awarded for his model-making innovation in 1962, when he was the recipient of the American Institute of Architects Craftsmanship Medal.
In his later years, Conrad increasingly partook in Jersey City politics and preservation efforts. In 1961, he ran for the city council on the ticket of former Mayor Thomas Gangemi, but lost. He was soon after appointed a city redevelopment commissioner. He was the founding member of the Jersey City Historic District Commission, the Brownstone Revival Committee, and the Riverview Neighborhood Association, and served as the president of the Jersey City Museum Association and the Jersey City Preservation and Restoration Association. His biggest preservation effort was his resulted in the declaration of the Hudson County Courthouse on Newark Avenue as a national historic site in 1971. He also played a major role in advocating for Liberty State Park, documented with drawings in the collection, as well as the preservation of Loew's Jersey Theater.
Box 09 Folder 13
5 photographs
Box 09 Folder 14
Contains information sheet, 1 color aerial print, 15 color prints of development
Box 09 Folder 15
2 reproductions of rooftop renderings
Box 09 Folder 16
3 photographic prints
Box 09 Folder 17
7 photographs (Conrad's first model)
Box 09 Folder 18
15 photographs (primarily of the model), 1 exhibition plaque
Oversize 02 Folder 01
2 photographs
Box 09 Folder 19
Client Museum of Modern Art ; 9 photographs (including model in construction) and 1 newspaper clipping
Box 09 Folder 20
6 presentation drawings
Box 09 Folder 21
3 photographs
Box 09 Folder 22
1 photograph
Box 09 Folder 23
3 photographs
Box 09 Folder 24
1 photograph
Box 09 Folder 25
Includes correspondences, billing, lists, product spec sheets, drawings
Box 09 Folder 26
1 copy of rendering
Box 09 Folder 27
17 photographs; includes photographs of model for Rockefeller Center.
Box 09 Folder 28
7 photographs; Smithsonian press brochure regarding the building design
Box 09 Folder 29
4 photographs
Box 09 Folder 30
5 photographs
Box 09 Folder 31 to 32
Includes clippings, brochures, window patterns for model, and photocopied articles for model created for "The Eye of Thomas Jefferson" Exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. 1976
Box 09 Folder 33
3 photographs
Box 09 Folder 34
1 photographs
Box 09 Folder 35
3 photographs
Box 09 Folder 36
Clippings
Box 09 Folder 37
Includes photo prints of presentation drawings, copy of site plan with pencil markings
Box 09 Folder 38
1 photograph, 1 brochure, and Pencil Point tear sheet
Box 09 Folder 39
7 photographs
Box 09 Folder 40
Sectional model : 5 photographic prints
Box 09 Folder 41
1 photograph, 3 negative photo stats (plot plan, section, elevation)
Box 09 Folder 42
2 photographic prints
Box 09 Folder 43
4 photographic prints; "Photographed for The Museum of Modern Art by Soichi Sunami"
Box 09 Folder 44
2 photographs
Box 10 Folder 1
11 photographs; tear sheets from Architectural, SOM newsletter
Box 10 Folder 2
9 photographs
Box 10 Folder 3
2 photographs
Box 10 Folder 4
1 photograph
Box 10 Folder 5
10 photographs, booklets, reprints, schematic plans, site plan, exhibition plaque
Box 10 Folder 6
8 photographs
Box 10 Folder 7
2 photographs of downtown Dallas aerial model [not confirmed as related to Dallas Main Place building]; elevation templates and one floor plan template for model
Box 10 Folder 8
Includes sketches, scale drawings and aerial photographs
Box 10 Folder 9
4 photographs (including the model on display in Saks Fifth Avenue store window); Equinews, Nov. 1958 featuring the model; Typescript of article by John Farley for Modern Pattern-Making2 X Equitable Agency Time
Box 10 Folder 10
3 photographs
Box 10 Folder 11
1 photograph
Box 10 Folder 12
5 photographs
Box 10 Folder 13
1 photograph and reprint from Architectural Forum (May 1949)
Box 10 Folder 14
2 photographs
Box 10 Folder 15
3 photographs
Box 10 Folder 16
9 photographs
Box 10 Folder 17
1 photograph
Box 10 Folder 18
1 photograph
Box 10 Folder 19
5 photographs
Box 10 Folder 20
12 photographs; copies of New York Magazine article "A Grand Boulevard for Washington"
Box 10 Folder 21
2 photographs
Oversize 02 Folder 02
5 photographs
Box 10 Folder 23
9 photographs
Box 10 Folder 24
4 photographs
Box 10 Folder 25
4 photographs
Box 10 Folder 26
1 copy of rendering
Box 10 Folder 27
7 photographs
Box 10 Folder 28
Main floor plan architectural reproduction
Box 10 Folder 29
6 photographs
Box 10 Folder 30
1 photograph
Box 10 Folder 31
36 photographic prints ; 4 magazine cut-outs
Box 10 Folder 32
2 photographs
Box 10 Folder 33
5 photographs
Box 10 Folder 34
2 photographs
Box 10 Folder 35
12 photographs
Box 10 Folder 36
7 photographs
Box 10 Folder 37
2 photographs
Box 10 Folder 38
2 photographs
Box 09 Folder 45
4 photographs
Box 09 Folder 46
1 photograph
Box 09 Folder 47
7 photographs
Box 09 Folder 48
1 photograph
Box 09 Folder 49
6 photographs
Box 09 Folder 50
4 photographs
Box 09 Folder 51
1 photograph
Box 09 Folder 52
2 photographs
Box 09 Folder 53
1 photograph, press release for the unveiling of the architectural model, letter and tear sheets (4 copies) from Architectural Forum highlighting model, clipping featuring the model
Box 10 Folder 39
6 photographs
Box 10 Folder 40
Clipping, Flyer, Battery Park City Chronicle (Spring 1974), photograph of Brooklyn Port Authority Piers (see also Downton Photo Set-up)
Box 10 Folder 41
3 photographs
Box 10 Folder 42
1 photograph, correspondence, billing
Box 10 Folder 43
Negative transparency of proposed plot plan
Box 10 Folder 44
8 photographs
Box 10 Folder 45
13 photographs
Box 10 Folder 46
1 photograph (image of model being constructed in studio)
Box 10 Folder 47
66 photographs (includes images of model being constructed in studio)
Box 10 Folder 48 to 50
144 photographs (Battery Park City project?)
Oversize 02 Folder 03
Box 10 Folder 51
8 photographs
Box 10 Folder 52
3 photographs
Box 10 Folder 53
3 photographs
Box 10 Folder 54
1 photograph
Box 10 Folder 55
Tear sheet featuring Louis Checkman photograph of proposed Point Park development and Golden Triangle
Box 10 Folder 56
New York City Department of City Planning Newsletter (February-March 1967); exhibition plaque "Manhattan Landing"
Box 10 Folder 57
5 photographs (includes photo of model being constructed), clipping
Oversize 02 Folder 04
Box 10 Folder 58
1 photograph
Box 10 Folder 59
"Descriptive Memoranda to Accompany Cabinet Sketches"
Box 10 Folder 60
1 photograph : aerial view
Box 11 Folder 01
6 photographs
Box 11 Folder 02
Tear sheet and a brochure for Weldtex plywood
Box 11 Folder 03
Reproductions of pages, presumably Good Housekeeping, letter from Joseph Mason, editor of Good Housekeeping, and typescript from Building Forum
Box 11 Folder 04
Contains tear sheets from Ladies Home Journal (not of models by Conrad, perhaps used for reference?)
Box 11 Folder 05
Tear sheets from McCall's of model of a house built by Conrad (presumably the landscape only), photographed by Stoller, designed by Paul Thiry
Box 11 Folder 06
Tear sheets from McCall's of models of houses and McCall's Home of the Month brochure, "A Farm House"
Box 11 Folder 07
Tear sheet
Box 11 Folder 08
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 09
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 10
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 11
Tear sheets and a pamphlet titled "McCall's Home of the Month, April 1948"
Box 11 Folder 12
Tear sheet and a pamphlet titled "McCall's Home of the Month, April 1948"
Box 11 Folder 13
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 14
Tear sheets and a pamphlet titled "McCall's Home of the Month, April 1948"
Box 11 Folder 15
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 16
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 17
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 18
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 19
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 20
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 21
2 photographs and tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 22
Contains drawings, sketches and tear sheets from Women's Home Companion
Box 11 Folder 23
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 24
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 25
3 photographs
Box 11 Folder 26
Tear sheets
Box 11 Folder 27
2 photographs
Box 10 Folder 60
7 photographs
Box 10 Folder 61
9 photographs (3 projects)
Box 10 Folder 62
1 photograph
Box 10 Folder 63
6 photographs (3 projects)
Box 10 Folder 64
4 photographs (4 projects)
Oversize 02 Folder 05
1 photograph
Box 10 Folder 65
3 photographs (3 projects)
Box 10 Folder 66
25 photographs (11 projects)
Box 10 Folder 67
2 photographs (2 projects)
Box 10 Folder 68 to 69
62 photographs, 3 prints of floor plans (multiple projects)
Oversize 02
9 photographs
Box 10 Folder 70
13 photographs (3 projects)
Box 09 Folder 54
Color printouts of photographs for a selection of Conrad models [complied after Conrad's death?]
Box 01 Folder 01 to 02
[2 folders]
Box 01 Folder 03
Bills, 1942, 1948
Box 01 Folder 03 to 13
[1:3] Bills, 1950-1959
[1:4] 1951-1952
[1:5] Job File (#651 to 730), 1954
[1:6] Job File (#736 to 831), 1955
[1:7-8] Job File (#961 to 1159), 1957
[1-9-10] Job File (#1160 to 1371), 1958
[1:11-13] "Jobs Alphabetical Order & Billed Price", 1959
Box 01 to 05
[1:14-15] "Client's Bills Paid", 1960
[1:16] "Bills in Alphab. Order of Architects, Jobs", 1960
[1:17] "Jobs Alphabetical Order & Billing Prices", 1960
[1:18-19] Job File (A to Z), 1960
[1:20] "Customers Unpaid Bills / Numerical order", 1960-1961
[1:21] "Customers Bills Paid / Numerical order", 1961
[1:22] "Bills in Alphabetical Order", 1961
[1:22-24] Job File A to Z, 1961
[2:1-2] "Job File A to Z", 1962
[2:3] Unpaid and Paid Bills, 1962
[2:4-9] "Correspondence & Bills" A to Z, 1963
[2:10-12] "Paid Bills", "Unpaid Bills", "Bills-Alphabetical Order", 1963
[2:13-15] Job File (A to Z), 1963
[3:1] Paid Bills, 1964
[3:2] Bills Alphabetical Order, 1964
[3:3-5] [alphabetical], 1964
[3:6-11] Correspondence (A to Z), 1964
[3:12-13] Paid and Unpaid Bills, 1965
[3:14-16] Job File (A to Z), 1965
[4:1-7] Correspondence (A to Z), 1965
[4:8] Paid and Unpaid Bills, 1966
[4:9-11] Job File (A to Z), 1966
[4:12-13] "Correspondence and Bills A to M", 1966
[4:14] Bills, 1967
[4:15-17] Job File (A to Z), 1967
[5:1] Bills, 1968
[5:2-3] Job File (A to Z), 1968
[5:4] Bills, 1969
[5:5] Job File (A to Z), 1969
Box 05 to 06
[5:6-7] Bills, 1970
[5:8] Job File (A to Z), 1970
[5:9] Bills, 1971
[5:10] Job File (A-Z), 1971
[5:11] Bills, 1972
[5:12] Job File (A-Z), 1972
[5:13] Bills, 1973
[6:1] Job File (A-Z), 1973
[6:2] Bills, 1974
[6:3] Job File (A to Z), 1974
[6:4] Bills, 1975
[6:5] Job File (A to Z), 1975
[6:6] Job File (A to Z), 1976
[6:7] Job File (A to Z), 1977
[6:8] Job File (A to Z), 1978
[6:9] Job File (A to Z), 1979
Box 06 Folder 10 to 11
[6:10] Job File (A to Z), 1980-1996
[6:11] Correspondence, 1996-2004
Box 06 Folder 12 to 15
Contains bills and some correspondence, arranged alphabetically by year [4 folders]
Box 07 Folder 19
Contains correspondence and bills regarding model
Box 07 Folder 01 to 09
[9 folders]
Box 07 Folder 10
Box 8 Folder 01
Printed material featuring images of models by Conrad, includes: Rockefeller Center Weekly (May 1937) featuring the "$100,000 House of Tomorrow"); Museum of Modern Art bulletin (Fall 1950) on Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; and The Museum of Modern Art catalog "Buildings for Business and Government" (1957); Stephen Shilowitz, Architects; At Cooper Union Alumni News (1971)
Box 07 Folder 11 to 13
Box 07 Folder 14
Box 07 Folder 15
Box 07 Folder 16
Box 07 Folder 17 to 18
[2 folders]
Oversize 01 Folder 01
Arranged chronologically with undated material at the end
Oversize 01 Folder 02
Includes models possibly by Conrad and Book "McCall's Book of Modern Houses" (1951)
Oversize 01 Folder 02
Newspaper clippings and tear sheets documenting Conrad's projects
Box 08 Folder 03
Newspaper clippings documenting Conrad's projects
Oversize 01 Folder 04
Includes the following projects: Airport [Victor Gruen Associates], Supper Club (Shoreline Development) [Antonin Raymond & L.L. Rado, Architects], Molecular Structure Building [Louis I. Kahn], St. John's Abbey and University (Collegeville, MN) [Marcel Breuer], Hotel (Puerto Rico) [Toro-Ferrer and Charles H. Warner, Jr.], Stadium [Antonin Raymond & L.L. Rado, Architects], Battery Park Housing (New York, NY) [I.M. Pei]
Box 08 Folder 03
Includes application and correspondence for Delta Workshop Contest
Box 08 Folder 04
Box 08 Folder 05 to 09
Includes images of Conrad's model workshops at 250 Ogden Avenue, 31 Griffith Street, Franklin Street, Radio City, and Corbett's Office. Includes interior shop photographs of equipment and of the construction of various models. [4 folders]
Box 08 Folder 15
Also includes Builder Certificate for Conrad
Box 08 Folder 10 to 13
Historic preservation packet and scrapbook on Washington Village, New Jersey City. Conrad's House (formerly Gov. Ogden's house) on cover. [4 copies]
Box 08 Folder 14
Contains stories from the Jersey Journal and includes a piece on Conrad
Box 09 Folder 01
Includes mostly non-project related drawings and print reproductions
Box 09 Folder 02
Box 09 Folder 03
Box 09 Folder 04
Correspondence, forms, and other paperwork
Box 08 Folder 14
4 booklets
Box 08 Folder 24
Office pamphlet "Portrait of the Office of Alfonso Alvarez, Architect & Associates"
Oversize 01 Folder 05
6 photographs
Box 08 Folder 15
Contains product sheets and catalogs for Delta workshop machinery
Box 09 Folder 5
Publication
Box 08 Folder 16
Contains black and white prints of WWII aircraft
Box 08 Folder 17
Product sheet
Box 08 Folder 18
4 mounted prints ; stamped note "Not to be used for advertising or reproduced in any manner. Property of U.S. Navy"
Box 09 Folder 06 to 12
Contains product sheets and catalogs for model making materials
Box 08 Folder 19
Contains drawing set of Type 32 Escalator ; stamped "Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill"
Box 08 Folder 20
Promotional material from Model Buildings Inc. and Industrial Models Inc.
Box 08 Folder 21
Clippings
Box 08 Folder 22
Contains photo prints of trees and notes about standardization of tree types and sizes for model-making purposes
Box 08 Folder 23
Contain product sheets and catalogs for workshop machinery
Tube 01 Roll 01
10 items : contains siteplan blueprint, 1:500, slab elevation plan 1/16"=1'-0", tower drawings
Tube 01 Roll 02
14 items : includes siteplan blueprint, design frawings, color coded plans, trace drawings
Tube 02 Roll 03
10 items : includes siteplans, surveys, etc
Tube 02 Roll 04
18 items : includes siteplans, surveys, plans of Manhattan Community College by Caudill, Rowlett, Scott
Tube 03 Roll 05
14 items : includes siteplans, surveys, etc
Tube 03 Roll 06
5 items : contains trace drawings that go with drawings in rolls
Tube 03 Roll 07
8 items : contains blueprints: Plans, elevations, section of Collier House by Ammon Fordyce and William I. Hamby
Tube 03 Roll 08
4 items : contains blueprints
Tube 03 Roll 09
2 items : contains "Hackensack Meadowlands District Official Zoning Map", 1"=3,000' and "Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commision" arial poster, 1"=1000'
Tube 04 Roll 10
10 items : contains blueprints and sepia prints of Hirshhorn museum by SOMĀ“s Gordon Bunshaft
Tube 04 Roll 11
2 items : contains siteplan
Tube 04 Roll 12
1 item : contains one long drawing, badly damaged, depicting Manhattan from Battery Park to Brooklyn Bridge, elsewhere marked "Lower Manhattan, Water St. Study"
Tube 05 Roll 13
4 items : contains blueprints: Plan of Rockefeller Apartments, plan of Rockefeller Plaza by Harrison and Fouilhoux, plan of trailer farm display by Johns Manville Corporation
Tube 05 Roll 14
3 items : contains diazo prints for Focal Food Buildling
Tube 06 Roll 15
20 items
Tube 07 Roll 16
17 items : contains blueprints, some with sketches on trace paper. Perhaps this is the St. Louis Sports Stadium by Edward Durell Stone as seen in the photocopied newspaper clipping collection, 1963
Tube 07 Roll 17
20 items : contains blueprints, some with sketches on trace paper
Tube 07 Roll 18
2 items : contains identical photocopies of 60 fl. unidentified highrise
Tube 07 Roll 19
6 items : contains blueprints, one over 6' long