This collection contains architectural drawings, photographs, business records and reference materials related to the projects and designs of Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue and his successor firm, Mayers, Murray & Philips, primarily in the New York City region. A large portion of the collection consists of personal and professional correspondence to and from Goodhue from the early 1900s until his death in 1926. Relatively few architectural drawings from his professional practice survive.

This collection contains reprographic architectural drawings for the Empire State Building; photographs of the demolition of the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which occupied the Fifth Avenue site; photographs of the Empire State Building under construction, circa 1930-1931 (one photograph shows former governor Alfred E. Smith standing in the building during construction), including 232 photographs by photographer Lewis Hine; photographs showing the building after completion, circa 1931-1956; scrapbooks of clippings of articles about the building, 1930-1957; and illustrations of the Empire State Building, circa 1930s-1960s. These subgroups of materials also have records in CLIO with more detailed descriptions of items; for these records, please search under "Empire State Building" or "Shreve, Lamb & Harmon" or "Hine, Lewis Wickes".

Hugh Ferriss (1889-1962) was an architectural renderer known for his vision of the modern city and his ability to translate vast projects into dramatic but clear-cut images. Ferriss published two books: The Metropolis of Tomorrow (1929) and Power of Buildings (1953). The collection was donated to Avery Library by Ferriss' family after his death, and has been supplemented by several later additions from other sources. 363 original drawings in the collection have been photographed and digitized and can be viewed via links in the finding aid's container listing.

August Trenkmann purchased the lots located between Centre, Broome and Lafayette Streets (originally Elm Street) in New York City at different times during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Trenkmann constructed buildings on five of the seven lots. This small collection represents two of those buildings, both designed by DeLemos & Cordes, Architects. For the 7-story factory building at Nos. 247-249 Centre Street and 167-171 Elm Street, the collection consists of Specifications of the Iron Work and Materials (1890). For the 7-story office building on the southwest corner of Broome and Centre Streets (403 Broome Street), the collection includes Specification for the Steam Power, Heating and Ventilating Apparatus and Article of Agreement between Trenkmann and Jackson Architectural Iron Works (1895).

A 1956 proposal drafted by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for the Union Carbide Building, a historically significant, mid-twentieth century office tower located at 270 Park Avenue, just north of Grand Central Station. The proposal consists of reproductions of plan and elevation drawings and photographs of the Union Carbide model, together with outline specifications, cost estimates, and construction and drawing schedules.