Sketchbooks of drawings and plans, architectural drawings, lithographs and other reproductions of largely European architecture constitute the Weinreb Architectural collection, a group of materials that represents a small selection of the inventory of London antiquarian architectural bookseller Ben Weinreb (1912-1999). The sketchbooks especially document architects' visits to important examples of European architecture in the mid- to late-19th century to sketch and study their styles and forms; four of these sketchbooks were executed by British architect Evelyn A. Hellicar. Other sketchbooks are of plans for residences, churches, and a hotel of the same period. The majority of the unbound original architectural drawings are presentation drawings of designs by Oliver Hill, RIBA, executed by J.D.M. Harvey. Reproductions in the collection consist mainly of late-19th century lithographic views of port cities in Sweden, Italy, and France.

Weinreb was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire on February 5, 1912 and worked in bookstores and the theater in his youth. He began to specialize in architectural books in the 1950s and opened his first regular shop across from the British Museum in 1960. He sold his entire stock to the University of Texas in 1968 but continued as a book and print dealer for a short time. He collaborated with Christopher Hibbert to compile (1983), a reference book of that city's history and culture, and provided text to accompany his son Matthew Weinreb's photographs for (1993). Weinreb's sixty inventory catalogues are still used as important reference works to architectural publications. He died in Henton, Somerset on April 3, 1999.