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Archival Collections Portal > Avery Drawings & Archives Collections > Finding Aid: Emery Roth & Sons architectural records and papers
Emery Roth & Sons architectural records and papers,
1906-1996
(bulk 1951-1994)
Preferred Citation
Emery Roth & Sons architectural records and papers. Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
COinS Metadata
available (e.g., for Zotero).
Summary Information
At a Glance
| CLIO record: | View CLIO record |
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| Creator(s): | Emery Roth & Sons. |
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| Title: | Emery Roth & Sons architectural records and papers,
1906-1996
(bulk 1951-1994)
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| Physical description: | 34,175 drawings, 1,906 photographs and 245 linear feet papers
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| Language(s): |
In English.
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| Access: |
This collection is available for use by qualified readers by appointment in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives’ Reading Room,
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University. The majority of this collection is maintained in off-site storage and
must be retrieved with advance notification. For further information and to make an appointment to use this collection, please
call (212) 854-4110 or email avery-drawings@libraries.cul.columbia.edu.
More information » |
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| Types of Materials in the Collection: | Correspondence,
typescript papers,
carbon typescript papers,
holograph papers,
printed papers,
photographic prints,
film negatives,
photographic transparencies,
architectural reprographic prints,
product samples
and
mixed media drawings
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Arrangement
Arrangement
This material is organized in two series: Project Records and Office Records. Within the Project Records series, materials are
organized in the following subseries: Drawings, Files, Photographs, and Specifications. Within the Office Records series, files are
organized into the following subseries: Administrative, Correspondence, Financial Records, and General. The further arrangement of
material within each level is described at the beginning of each series and subseries.
Return to top Description
Scope and Content
This collection primarily contains architectural drawings, correspondence, business records, and a small number of photographs
related to the projects of Emery Roth & Sons and its subsidiary entities. A large portion of the entities are represented only in the
Office Records series and are identified as such. Some projects on which Emery Roth & Sons acted as architect of record are not
represented in this collection, most notably the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
Return to top Using the Collection
Access Restrictions
 This collection is available for use by qualified readers by appointment in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives’ Reading Room,
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University. The majority of this collection is maintained in off-site storage and
must be retrieved with advance notification. For further information and to make an appointment to use this collection, please
call (212) 854-4110 or email avery-drawings@libraries.cul.columbia.edu.
Restrictions on Use
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. For additional guidance, see
Columbia University Libraries' publication policy.
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.
Preferred Citation
Emery Roth & Sons architectural records and papers. Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Related Material
Emery Roth & Sons was the architect of choice for the real estate developers Uris Brothers.
Materials pertaining to their Emery Roth & Sons projects can be found in the
Percy and
Harold D. Uris Papers, also held by Avery Library’s Department of Drawings & Archives.
Additionally, the Department of Drawings & Archives also holds the
Emery Roth Architectural Drawings and Biography collection.
Lastly, the Christopher Gray Research Materials on Emery Roth and Emery Roth & Sons are also held in the Department.
Selected Bibliography
Clausen, Meredith L.
The Pan Am Building and the Shattering of the Modernist Dream.
Cambridge:
MIT Press,
2005.
Ruttenbaum, Steven.
Mansions in the Clouds: The Skyscraper Palazzi of Emery Roth.
New York:
Balsam Press,
1986.
Shachtman, Tom.
Skyscraper Dreams: The Great Real Estate Dynasties of New York.
Boston:
Little, Brown and Company,
1991.
For Further InformationFor more information about using the collections and conducting research in the Department of Drawings & Archives, please see our FAQ. Return to top About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Finding aid written by Vanessa Cameron, Roth Project Archivist, for
the Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Vanessa Cameron, Emery Roth & Sons Project Archivist, Avery Architectural and
Fine Arts Library, Department of Drawings & Archives, 2007-2008 with the assistance of Hollyamber Kennedy,
Bibliographic Assistant. Additional support was provided by Mellon Graduate School Interns Lindsay McCook and Teresa Harris.
Processing was funded by a generous grant from the E.H.A. Foundation.
EAD instance generated by Annemarie van Roessel, Archivist, and Vanessa Cameron from MS Excel spreadsheets and MS Word files Nov 5 2008
Finding aid written in English.
CLIO ID: 3460569 View CLIO record Return to top Index Terms
The names and terms listed below are represented in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a consortial/union catalog offered by OCLC that allows users to search the holdings of multiple archives and libraries. All links open new windows.
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Return to top History / Biographical Note
Historical & Biographical Note
Emery Roth & Sons (1938-1996) was a family-run architecture firm that had a major influence on the post-war development of
Manhattan. In 1938 the architect Emery Roth (1871-1948), renowned for upscale Manhattan apartment buildings like the Beresford
and the San Remo, renamed his practice Emery Roth & Sons to reflect the inclusion of his sons Julian and Richard as
partners. Julian (1901-1992) specialized in construction costs and building materials and technology, while Richard (1904-1987)
was named the firm's principal architect. In the early 1960s, Richard Roth's son, Richard Roth, Jr. (b. 1933) became the third
generation to join the firm, eventually rising to chief architect and shareholder. As the firm expanded and diversified over six decades,
it remained a family business through the 1990s. Richard Roth's children, Robyn Roth-Moise and Richard Lee Roth, both worked for
the firm and its subsidiaries.
Emery Roth & Sons continued to design high-rise apartment buildings in Manhattan, as Emery Roth had, but shortly after
World War II the firm began to shift its focus to high-rise office buildings. As they became increasingly specialized in commercial
space, they worked closely with real estate developers such as the Uris Corporation, Tishman Construction, Diesel Construction,
the Durst Organization, and Helmsley-Spear, Inc.
Significant examples of their work in New York include 55 Water Street, 300 Park Avenue, the Palace Hotel, 546 Fifth Avenue, and
600 Lexington Avenue. Emery Roth & Sons frequently collaborated with other architects on large projects for which they were
the architects of record. These projects included the World Trade Center (Minoru Yamasaki), General Motors Office Building
(Edward Durell Stone), 1585 Broadway (Gwathmey Siegel & Associates), 7 Hanover Square (Norman Jaffe), the Portland
Municipal Building (Michael Graves), 375 Hudson Street (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), and the Pan Am Building (Walter Gropius).
Over the years the firm consistently provided marketable designs that maximized the net rentable area, a feature highly prized by
real estate developers. Writing of the firm’s work in a 1957 article, Richard Roth remarked “The entire endeavor in our office is to
create the best that can be produced within the restrictions that are placed upon us; and these restrictions are seldom those of our
client, but rather of lending institutions; economics; and municipal authorities’ laws” (
Progressive Architecture
, June 1957).
The promotion of the Texas-based architect Robert Sobel (b. 1931) to principal in the late 1970s marks a shift in their focus from
Manhattan office buildings to mixed-use properties in Texas and overseas. Beginning in the 1970s, possibly in reaction to New York
City’s fiscal crisis, and continuing through the 1990s, the firm expanded and diversified its operations into several related entities.
In the 1980s they took advantage of the Texas oil boom, establishing the office of Sobel / Roth that was based in Houston. Notable
examples of their work outside of Manhattan include Houston’s Alliance Tower, Beijing’s China World Trade Center, and the Taman
Tuk Abdul Razak Center in Malaysia.
In 1993, Richard Roth Junior sold all of his issued and outstanding shares of Emery Roth & Sons and all of its affiliated and related entities to
Robert Sobel. In 1996, the firm ceased to operate, apparently because of financial distress.
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