William E. Lehman Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MG Nwk Lehman-(Main)

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The material in this collection consists primarily of scrapbooks, photographs and photographic negatives related to buildings designed by Lehman architects.

Box 1: (1919-1964) Contains two scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, photographs of buildings and employees, brochures, invitations to building dedications, press releases and announcments, theatre programs, and misc. items relating to Lehman projects, particularlary urban renewal in Newark.

Box 2: (1935-1962) Includes two scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, photographs of buildings and programs, brochures, invitations to building dedications, press releases and announcments, theatre programs, and misc. items relating to Lehman projects, particularlary urban renewal in Newark.

Box 3: (1920-1971) Includes a scrapbook containing elevation drawings and blueprints, and newspaper clippings, and photos of Lehman projects.

Box 4: (1928-1959) 8"x 10" Cellulose acetate negatives of Newark buildings and floor plans.

Box 5: (1960-1966) 8"x 10" Cellulose acetate negatives of Newark buildings and floor plans.

Box 6: (1934-1959) 8"x 10" Cellulose acetate negatives of New Jersey and Nationwide buildings and floor plans.

Box 7: (1960-1965) 8"x 10" Cellulose acetate negatives of New Jersey and Nationwide buildings and floor plans.

Box 8: (1939-1965) 8"x 10" Cellulose acetate negatives of Newark, New Jersey, and nationwide buildings and floor plans, and Lehman's early architecural student work.

Box 9 (1916-1977) Contains papers manuscripts and printed materials, correspondence and photographs of Lehman projects.

Dates

1916 - 1977
Majority of material found within 1934 - 1959

Creator

Lehman, William E. (Person)

Conditions Governing Use

Photocopying of materials is limited and no materials may be photocopied without permission from library staff. Researchers wishing to publish, reproduce, or reprint materials from this collection must obtain permission.

Biographical / Historical

William E. Lehman (1874-1951), a Newark native, established his eponymous architectural firm in the Prudential Building in 1896, the year after he graduated from Cornell University School of Architecture. In 1912 Lehman's brother David, who had studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, joined the firm. William Lehman, Sr. and his brother Jack H. Lehman founded the United States Realty & Investment Company in 1927, thus becoming actively involved in real estate development, particularly in the Newark. Both the architectural firm and U.S. Realty maintained offices at 972 Broad Street.

By the 1950s Lehman's son, William E. Lehman, Jr. (d. 1981), along with his cousins, John E. (1917-2009) and Thomas C. Lehman, was running the architectural firm. He became a director in the development company in 1937, and in 1953 succeeded his father as its president and CEO.

The design of private homes, apartment buildings, and theaters was the mainstay of the firm's business in its early years; by the 1920s, however, Lehman architects concentrated more on the design of industrial, commercial, and institutional buildings. In 1961 the firm employed 7 architects who designed 4 offices, 28 educational institutions, 6 industrial buildings, 60 residential buildings, and 2 retail buildings; by 1979 the firm had designed over 5,000 buildings.

The firm, originally titled William E. Lehman, Architect, was re-named the Lehman Architectural Partnership in 1977, and in 2000 it became the Lehman Architectural Group.

Newark buildings designed by Lehman architects include, the Federal Building, the Medical Tower on Lincoln Park, Hotel Douglas, the Otto Kretchmer Homes, Proctor's Theater, the State Office Building, Hallmark House apartments on Hill Street, Columbus Homes, Mt. Vernon School, McKinley School, and Quitman Street School, among others. The firm also designed the Newark Center Building, on the site of the former Centre Market, in conjunction with a New York firm, Steinhardt and Thompson.

In the early 1950s the Newark Housing Authority chose the Lehman firm to design apartment buildings in areas slated for urban renewal, including the Italian section of the First Ward and south Broad Street.