Comprised of commercial stationery with illustrations of buildings in lower Manhattan, the Yardley Collection provides a unique view of New York City’s evolution during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Selected for their illustrations of buildings in lower Manhattan, these pieces of stationery include rare images of the city’s commercial architecture, much of which is no longer extant. The digital exhibition features letterheads organized by street and by company name, which allows readers to chart a path through the city, one address at a time. The section devoted to Maiden Lane, for example, has illustrations of a dozen commercial buildings that once lined this street in downtown Manhattan. Many of these buildings, like the musical instrument company of John F. Stratton at 55 Maiden Lane, are no longer standing. Another especially rich section of the collection focuses on hotels, with letterheads from as early as 1831.

The John H. Yardley Collection of Architectural Letterheads was donated to Avery by Bernice Gordon in memory of her husband, Mr. John H. Yardley. The donation was inspired by the Robert Biggert Collection of Architectural Vignettes on Commercial Stationery which was donated to Avery by Robert Biggert in honor of Lisa Ann Riveaux.  Together, the Yardley and Biggert collections comprise a complementary set of nearly 2,000 unique items and add significantly to Avery’s extensive collection of ephemera on architectural topics.

Related digital collections:
Avery’s Architectural Novelties
Avery’s Architectural Ephemera Collections
New York Real Estate Brochure Collection

Yardley Press release