A New York architect's seal reads Registered Architect at the top of the outer band and State of New York at the bottom. The die is circular and approximately 1 3/4 inches across, with the Great Seal of New York at the center. Working drawings and specifications carry it when filed with public officials. This page covers the design, the signing duty and registration.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against 8 NYCRR § 69.5. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes. Working drawings and specifications are sealed once they go to public officials. | N.Y. Educ. Law § 7307(1) and (5) |
| Shape and size | Circular, and approximately 1 3/4 inches across. | 8 NYCRR § 69.5 |
| Outer band, top | Registered Architect. | 8 NYCRR § 69.5 |
| Outer band, bottom | State of New York. | 8 NYCRR § 69.5 |
| Center of the die | The Great Seal of New York occupies the inner circle. | 8 NYCRR § 69.5 |
| Name and number | Your name as licensed above the Great Seal, your license number below it. | 8 NYCRR § 69.5 |
| Devices permitted | An embosser, an electronic version, or a rubber stamp. | N.Y. Educ. Law § 7307(1) |
| Signature and date | A personal signature on the original goes with the seal. No dating rule is stated. | N.Y. Educ. Law § 7307(1) |
| Work covered | Drawings and specifications the architect prepared, plus those prepared by a subordinate, full time or part time, under supervision. | N.Y. Educ. Law § 7307(1) and (5) |
| Electronic seal | Permitted. No cryptographic standard is named for any New York design profession. | 8 NYCRR § 69.5 (silent) |
To compare New York with every other jurisdiction, see our table of architect seal requirements by state. Still working toward the license? The architect licensing path by state sets out what New York asks for first.
Does New York require an architect to hold a seal?
Yes. N.Y. Educ. Law § 7307(1) and (5) put the seal on working drawings and specifications once they go to public officials, and 8 NYCRR § 69.5 sets the design of the die itself.
The duty and the artwork therefore come from two places, which is worth knowing when a question turns out to be about one and not the other. A closer read of New York architect stamp law takes the statutory side further.
Which wording goes in the outer band?
Registered Architect at the top, State of New York at the bottom. That order is the detail most often gotten wrong, because a supplier working from an engineer layout will place the state wording at the top instead.
Check the proof on band order before anything else. The words can all be correct while the die still fails § 69.5, purely on where they sit.
What sits at the center of the die?
The Great Seal of New York, with your name as licensed above it and your license number below it. Those three elements make up the interior of the device under 8 NYCRR § 69.5.
- Your name as licensed, above the emblem
- The Great Seal of New York, at the center of the die
- Your license number, below the emblem
The emblem is specified art, not a decorative center. A round template with a star or a state outline in the middle is not built to this rule. The design and requirements for a New York architecture seal stamp covers the artwork in more depth.
How big is an architect's seal in New York?
Circular, and approximately 1 3/4 inches across, under 8 NYCRR § 69.5. The figure is stated as approximate, so the diameter is not held to a fine tolerance.
What sets the practical floor is the emblem at the center. Below a certain size it stops reading on prints, and prints are what a building department works from.
Which devices are acceptable?
Three: an embosser, an electronic version, and a rubber stamp, under N.Y. Educ. Law § 7307(1). They are alternatives rather than a ranked list.
The choice usually comes down to where the seal has to be visible. An inked impression shows up on every print of a set; a raised impression lives on the original sheet; an electronic version travels with a file. How a New York architect stamp is used on filings covers that decision in practice.
Does the seal need a signature or a date?
A signature, yes. A personal signature on the original goes with the seal under N.Y. Educ. Law § 7307(1). No dating rule is stated in the sources read for this page.
So a date block beside the seal is a matter of office practice rather than a stated requirement. The signature is not optional in the same way.
Which drawings have to be sealed?
Working drawings and specifications, once they go to public officials. The duty covers work the architect prepared personally and work prepared by a subordinate, full time or part time, working under the architect's supervision.
That second half matters in any office where production is shared. Supervised work sits inside the sealing duty rather than outside it, on the terms stated in § 7307(1) and (5).
Does New York accept an electronic architect seal?
Yes, as a format. No cryptographic standard is named for any New York design profession, and 8 NYCRR § 69.5 is silent on the point.
The absence of a named standard means the cited rule points to no particular technology. The design requirements do not change because the impression is applied to a file.
Does a New York architecture license expire?
The license does not lapse. Registration is the part that runs out, on a three year cycle, under N.Y. Educ. Law § 7307.
That is why nothing on the face of a New York architect seal carries an expiration date. The die does not track the renewal calendar, so it does not need remaking at each cycle.
What happens to the seal if registration lapses?
Use of the seal after a lapse is not addressed in the cited sources. There is no stated instruction covering the device during a gap in registration and no stated procedure for retiring it.
Where the rule is silent, the answer sits with keeping registration current rather than with the stamp on the desk.
What do you supply when ordering?
Your name exactly as licensed and your license number. Everything else on the die, including the band wording, the band order and the emblem, is set by § 69.5.
Take the spelling from your license record rather than from a firm directory, and check the proof for band order before approving it. Those two checks account for most remakes.
How do you proof the die before it goes on a filing set?
Take a test impression on your filing stock, then read it in this order: band top, band bottom, name, number, emblem. Measure the outside diameter while you have the impression in front of you.
Then copy the sheet and look at the copy. The emblem is the element most likely to fill in, and catching that before a set is issued saves reprinting every sheet that carries it.
New York geologists seal under a separate rule; see the New York geologist seal and stamp requirements.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use an engineer seal layout with the architect wording swapped in?
No. The band order differs. An architect's die reads Registered Architect across the top of the band, with State of New York at the bottom, so a layout borrowed from another profession puts the two legends the wrong way round.
Does a date have to appear next to my seal?
The sources read state a signature requirement and no dating rule. A date block is normal practice on New York drawings, but the cited sources do not require one.
Is a seal needed on drawings a subordinate prepared?
Yes, where that subordinate is a full time or part time employee working under the architect's supervision and the drawings go to public officials. The statute covers supervised work on the same terms.
Does my seal need remaking when registration renews?
No. The die carries no expiration date, because the license does not lapse and registration is what runs on a three year cycle. Nothing on the face changes at renewal.
Can I apply the seal as an image in a PDF set?
An electronic version is one of the accepted formats. No cryptographic standard is named, so the cited sources do not prescribe a file format or a particular signing method.
How much tolerance does approximately give on the diameter?
The rule states approximately 1 3/4 inches rather than an exact figure, so small variation is within the wording. Keep the emblem legible, since that is what sets the real floor.
Confirm your name spelling and license number against your license record, then order from the New York architect stamps and seals collection.
