Bien, Sylvan.

Sylvan Bien (1893-1959) was born in Austria and emigrated to San Francisco in the mid-1910s to assist in the design of the Panama-Pacific Exposition. He moved to New York City and from 1919 to 1923 he worked in the office of Warren & Wetmore. By the 1930s, Bien had his own practice in New York City, largely designing apartment buildings and hotels. Among his prominent early designs were the Hotel Carlyle, the Beverly Hotel, and the Grolier Building. After World War II, Bien was also noted for designing many modernist apartment buildings in New York City, including 900 Fifth Avenue, Schwab House, and the Coliseum Park Apartments. Robert L. Bien (1924-2002) received a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1949 from Cornell and became a parter in his father's firm in 1950. In 1967, Robert Bien joined Eggers & Higgins, later the Eggers Group and Hillier/Eggers, and practiced there until 1996.