Two blocks from the stately columns, arches and sculptures of Grand Central Terminal, a rogue band of architects is engaged in a retrograde venture: They're teaching a new generation how to draw and paint the elements of classical architecture—all those columns, arches and sculptures—with nothing more than pencils and paints on paper. No computers. Ever.

It's not that they hate modernity. But at the just-launched Beaux-Arts Atelier, the belief is that an architect should know how to draw buildings by hand—and the best way...