J.B. Duke acquired a lot on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 78th Street and commissioned Horace Trumbauer to draw the plans for a new residence in 1909. It was in this mansion that his daughter Doris was born and raised. After J.B.'s death in 1925, Nanaline continued to live in the mansion until January, 1958 when she and Doris donated the house to New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. Throughout her adulthood Doris continued to live in New York City, residing in a penthouse located at 3 E. 84th Street and a penthouse at 475 Park Avenue, which was her last New York City residence when she died in 1993. The collection primarily documents the expenses and daily operations of running and maintaining three large residences in New York City. Materials include invoices and receipts for repairs and renovations to the residences, correspondence and memoranda relating to routine matters of the residences including expenses, inventories of furniture, fixtures, and other household items, and appraisals of the residences and their household effects. A majority of the architectural records in this collection are related to the design and construction of J.B. Duke's mansion at 1 E. 78th Street.

The Duke Family New York Apartments Collection (formerly NYM, NYA84, and NYA) is part of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Historical Archives which were donated to the Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. This collection consists of three record groups that were intentionally assembled due to the similarity of the subject. The collection spans the years 1908 to 1997, beginning with the design and construction of James B. Duke's mansion at 1 E. 78th Street and ending with the maintenance and general upkeep of Doris Duke's 475 Park Avenue apartment after her death. The collection is arranged in three series by purchase date: New York Mansion (1 E. 78th Street), New York Apartment (3 E. 84th Street, Penthouse), and New York Apartment (475 Park Avenue, Penthouse B). Each of the series has an Administrative Records sub series; however the New York Mansion and 475 Park Avenue Penthouse both have an Architectural Records sub series. The collection primarily documents the expenses and daily operations of running and maintaining three large residences in New York City. Administrative records for all three series generally include invoices and receipts for repairs and renovations to the residences, correspondence and memoranda relating to routine matters of the residences including expenses, inventories of furniture, fixtures, and other household items, and appraisals of the residences and their household effects. A majority of the architectural records in this collection are related to the design and construction of J.B. Duke's mansion at 1 E. 78th Street. The materials in this collection are arranged loosely in chronological order.