{{Short description|American architect (1873–1956)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Use American English|date=October 2025}} thumb|300px|St. Urban Apartments on Central Park West thumb|upright|At 17 stories, 903 Park Avenue was the tallest apartment building in the world in 1916 thumb|upright|Gramercy Park Hotel, 1925 thumb|upright|2 Horatio Street, 1931 '''Robert Timothy Lyons''' (February 23, 1873 – May 15, 1956) was an architect responsible for many residential and commercial buildings in New York City in the early 20th century. He typically built in a Renaissance Revival or Neo-Federal style.
==Early life== Lyons was born in New York on February 23, 1873<ref>World War I draft registration card. Dated September 12, 1918, Yonkers, NY and signed by Mr. Lyons.</ref> and died May 15, 1956 in Trucksville, Pennsylvania.<ref>Death Certificate Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.</ref>
==Career== Emporis, the global real estate data and photo publishing firm, identifies 29 of Lyons's buildings in New York City in some detail—built largely between 1891 and 1931 (listed below). They are virtually all hotels or residential buildings. There are some commercial buildings.<ref name="lyonslist">{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130215222222/http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=company&lng=3&id=101645 Emporis listing of Robert T. Lyons buildings in NYC]}}</ref><ref>[http://www.metrohistory.com/dbpages/NBsearch.lasso MetroHistory search for Robert T. Lyons building in NYC]</ref>
Lyons's notable work from the earlier part of his career includes the “St. Urban” on Central Park West at 89th Street, which opened in 1906, built in partnership with developer Peter Banner.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/luxuryapartmenth0000alpe|url-access=registration |title=Luxury apartment houses of Manhattan: an illustrated history |first=Andrew |last=Alpern |location=New York |publisher=Dover Publications |year=1992 |page=71 |isbn=9780486273709}}</ref>
There is at least one example of Lyons's work in Brooklyn Heights: 11 Schermerhorn Street.<ref>Original blueprints of 11 Schermerhorn Street, 1914</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_7031148_053/pages/ldpd_7031148_053_00000421.html|title = Columbia University Libraries: Real estate record and builders' guide (V.93no.2390(Jan. 3 1914)-no.2415(June 27 1914))}}</ref> Robert T. Lyons was an associate architect to William Van Alen in the preliminary design of the Reynolds Building, which was later revised to create the Chrysler Building,<ref>Office for Metropolitan History, "Manhattan NB Database 1900–1986," (date of access), http://www.MetroHistory.com</ref> and he was the supervising architect in the building of what became the Chrysler Building.<ref>{{cite news |date=February 16, 1928 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/02/16/archives/skyscraper-plans-filed-63story-offices-to-rise-on-lexington-av.html |title=Skyscraper Plans Filed |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
Lyons partnered with Bing & Bing on a number of prominent projects over a period of several decades. Among the earliest projects in that partnership was “the tallest apartment building in the world” at 903 Park Avenue at 79th Street—breaking the record of 12 stories with 17 stories when it opened in 1916.<ref>{{cite news |title=903 Park Avenue, at 79th Street; 1914 Apartment House Once Called World's Tallest |work=The New York Times |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=May 12, 2002 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E2DD1030F931A25756C0A9649C8B63}}</ref> Another prominent Bing & Bing project was the Gramercy Park Hotel, completed in 1925. It is located at the commencement of Lexington Avenue on Gramercy Park and was built on the site of architect Stanford White’s home.<ref name="lyonslist" /> He partnered with Bing & Bing on 2 Horatio Street apartment building which opened in 1931.
== Government work ==
''The New York Times'' refers to him as an architect of the New York State Mortgage Commission in 1935.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 1, 1935 |title=SEPARATING HOTEL UNITS.; Mortgage Body Plans Independence for Half of the Victoria. |website=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/11/01/archives/separating-hotel-units-mortgage-body-plans-independence-for-half-of.html?sq=Robert+T+Lyons&scp=2&st=p}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' mentions that after working as an architect with the Federal Housing Authority from 1942 to 1944, Lyons would be returning to private practice in October 1944.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0D17FF3555157B93C2A8178BD95F408485F9&scp=1&sq=Robert+T+Lyons+Federal+Housing+Authority&st=p |work=The New York Times |date=October 10, 1944 |title=Real Estate Notes}}</ref>
== Notable buildings == From Emporis: * Kaufman Arcade, West 35th Street and West 36th Street * St Urban Apartments, 285 Central Park West (1905) * Lorington Apartments, Central Park West (1908) * 903 Park Avenue with Bing & Bing (1912) * 902 Broadway (1913) * 135 West 79th Street (1914) * 955 Park Avenue with Bing & Bing (1914) * 565 Park Avenue with Bing & Bing (1914) * 432 Park Avenue South (1914) * 11 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn with Bing and Bing (1914) * 993 Park Avenue with Bing & Bing (1915) * 1155 Park Avenue with Bing & Bing (1916) * 152 West 58th Street (1916) * 157 West 57th Street (1917) demolished * Bromley Apartments (1918) * 6 West 48th Street (1919) * Blackstone Hotel, 50 East 58th Street (1922) * Parc Lincoln Hotel, 166 West 75th Street (1922) * 310 West 72nd Street (1924) * Cathedral Parkway Apartments (1925) * Carnegie Plaza (1925) * Colorado Apartments, 235 West 76th Street (1925) * Gramercy Park Hotel with Bing & Bing (1925) * 304 West 75th Street (1927) * 40 East 49th Street (1927) * 509 Madison Avenue (1929) * Wellington Hotel, 871 7th Avenue (1929) * Gramercy Court, 245 East 21st Street (1930) * 7 Park Avenue, (1930) * 400 East 50th Street (1930) * 35 West 90th Street (1931) * 2 Horatio Street (1931)
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Robert T.}} Category:1873 births Category:1956 deaths Category:Architects from New York City Category:20th-century American architects Category:American residential architects