218 West 57th Street (also known as 220 West 57th Street; formerly known as the Society House of the American Society of Civil Engineers or the ASCE Society House) is a building on 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It was designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz in the French Renaissance Revival style, with an annex built to designs by Eidlitz and Andrew C. McKenzie. The building served as the headquarters of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) from 1897 to 1917.
218 West 57th Street is four stories tall, with a basement, though the top two stories only cover a portion of the site. The facade is made largely of white glazed brick with ornamentation made of elaborately carved Indiana Limestone. The second story contains an elliptical ogee arch with a tripartite window, while the top of the building has a cornice with modillions. The interior originally contained a lounge, reading room, auditorium, offices, and stacks for the ASCE's library. When the ASCE moved out, the interior was converted to commercial space, and escalators and elevators were installed.
The building was proposed in early 1895 to replace the ASCE's previous overcrowded headquarters, and Eidlitz was selected as the architect as a result of an architectural design competition. The building opened on November 24, 1897, and an annex was built between 1905 and 1906 to accommodate the ASCE's increased attendance. After moving out, the ASCE continued to own 218 West 57th Street until 1966, leasing the space to automotive showrooms and various office tenants. The building also housed a Schrafft's restaurant between 1928 and the 1970s, and Lee's Art Shop between 1975 and 2016. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a city landmark in 2008. From 2025 onward, the building has hosted the Masquerade show.
Site 218 West 57th Street is on the southern side of 57th Street, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue two blocks south of Central Park, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The site covers approximately . It is wide, with a depth ranging from on the eastern side to on the western side. The building carries the alternate addresses 218–222 West 57th Street.
218 West 57th Street abuts 224 West 57th Street to the west, and a public plaza and 888 Seventh Avenue to the east. Other nearby buildings include the Central Park Tower to the northwest, the American Fine Arts Society (also known as the Art Students League of New York building) to the north, the Osborne Apartments to the northeast, the Rodin Studios to the east, and 1740 Broadway to the south.
218 West 57th Street is part of a former artistic hub around a two-block section of West 57th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway. The hub had been developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following the opening of Carnegie Hall at Seventh Avenue in 1891. The area contained several headquarters of organizations such as the American Fine Arts Society, the Lotos Club, and the ASCE Society House. By the 21st century, the artistic hub had largely been replaced with Billionaires' Row, a series of luxury skyscrapers around the southern end of Central Park. Furthermore, in the 20th century, the area was part of Manhattan's "Automobile Row", a stretch of Broadway extending mainly between Times Square at 42nd Street and Sherman Square at 72nd Street. In the late 1900s and early 1910s, several large automobile showrooms, stores, and garages were built nearby, including the U.S. Rubber Company Building at 1790 Broadway, the B.F. Goodrich showroom at 1780 Broadway, and the A. T. Demarest and Peerless Motor Company showrooms at 224 West 57th Street.
Architecture The original building, constructed from 1896 to 1897, was designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz in the French Renaissance Revival style, as the headquarters of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The annex, built from 1905 to 1906, was designed by Eidlitz and Andrew C. McKenzie. The original structure was constructed by Charles T. Wills, and the annex was built by William L. Crow. The design was meant to complement the American Fine Arts Society and Carnegie Hall.
The front of the building is at the north, near the main entrance on 57th Street, while the rear of the building is at the south. The building contains four stories and a basement, although the third and fourth stories are smaller and only occupy the front portion of the lot.
Facade
The main elevation, or side, of the building faces north toward 57th Street. The facade of the ground story is made of Indiana Limestone, while that of the upper floors is made mostly of white brick, with some limestone decoration. As viewed from 57th Street, the three vertical bays on the left, or eastern side, are part of the original building. The two bays on the right, or western, side are part of the annex. The central bay of the original building, the second-easternmost in the current design, is wider than the other bays. The facades of the original building and annex have vertical quoins at their edges.
In the original design, the central entrance on the first floor contained a stoop, with two-part windows on either side. The annex also originally had a pair of windows at ground level. The first floor was clad in stone during a 1918 renovation, and the original windows were placed with large display windows. On the second floor, in the central bay of the original building, is a canopied ogee arch with a tripartite window and ornamental reliefs in the tympanum. The other second-story windows have rectangular windows, which are topped by lintels shaped like ogee arches. On the third story, the original central bay contains a tripartite window, while the other windows have rectangular windows with small sills and decorative lintels. In the original design, a molded band course made of stone stretched horizontally between the third and fourth stories. The rectangular fourth-story windows were enlarged in 1939 so that they extended downward into the band course. There is a modillioned stone cornice above the fourth floor.
The eastern wall, made of brick, is visible from the plaza to the east. A sign advertising Lee's Art Shop, a former tenant, is painted on the eastern wall.
Interior The building has of space. It was built with a superstructure made of steel girders and timber. When used by the ASCE, the basement had a heating and electrical plant that projected underneath the sidewalk, as well as storage and publication rooms and a janitors' apartment. The first floor had a reception room and coat room to the left of the main entrance; a secretary's office to the right; and a lounge in the rear, occupying the entire width of the building and accessed by the main hallway. A main staircase led to the second floor, which had a reading room at the front and an auditorium in the rear. There were executive and editorial offices on the third floor. The stacks for the ASCE's library, on the fourth floor, could hold more than 100,000 volumes. Because the upper two floors were not likely to be heavily used, the original design did not include an elevator, but there was a book lift between the second and fourth floors. Electricity was provided by two gas engines. The lounge's and auditorium's areas were expanded by 50% in the 1905–1906 construction of the annex. In addition, a staircase was built between the lounge and auditorium.
After the ASCE moved out, the building was used mostly as commercial and office space. A brass and iron staircase was added for the Schrafft's restaurant in the building in 1928, and the former auditorium was converted into storage space. In addition, a marble-clad elevator was added to the second floor. The Schrafft's restaurant took up the first and second floors and could fit 500 guests. When Lee's Art Shop renovated the building in 2002, escalators were added between the first, second, and third floors, and an elevator and staircase were built from the first to the fourth floors. Many of the original interior designs had been preserved or recreated by Lee's Art Shop.
History The ASCE was founded in 1852 and held its first meetings at the Croton Aqueduct Department building in City Hall Park, Manhattan. The meetings occurred regularly through 1855 when the society suspended its activities until 1867. The reconvened ASCE met at the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York until 1875 when the society moved to 4 East 23rd Street. The ASCE moved again in 1877 to 104 East 20th Street and in 1881 to 127 East 23rd Street. By the 1890s, the ASCE's headquarters on 127 East 23rd Street were becoming overcrowded. A historian for the society wrote that many regular meetings were standing-room only, while its annual conventions had to be held in a church because the headquarters were insufficient.
Planning and construction In May 1895, the ASCE sent a circular to all members concerning the need for a new Society House. At the society's annual convention the following month, the ASCE's members responded overwhelmingly in favor of a new Society House, and the matter was forwarded to ASCE's Board of Direction. By October 1895, the board had selected a site at 218–220 West 57th Street. The site was near the established arts hub on 57th Street and was well-served by public transit, and the eastern border of the site faced what was then the Central Presbyterian Church.
The ASCE acquired the site in January 1896 for $80,000. Immediately afterward, the society convened a committee to oversee the design, contract procurement, and construction of its new Society House. The committee was led by George A. Just and contained seven other members, including William Rich Hutton. The original plans, to cost $90,000, were prepared by ASCE vice president Joseph M. Wilson and called for reception and meeting rooms on the first floor, offices on the second, and the ASCE's library on the third floor. The total cost of the project was $45,000 greater than the cost advertised on the circular, so the ASCE started soliciting for subscriptions to fund the building. By March, the ASCE board instead decided to host an architectural design competition in which ASCE members and a few "specially invited" architects could participate. Twelve plans were submitted, and the committee picked Eidlitz's design in May 1896.
Excavation at the Society House's site started on July 9, 1896, and cost $4,500. At the time, The New York Times reported that the building would be made of brick and granite, with terracotta detail. Due to uncertainties over funding, the ASCE building committee delayed the awarding of construction contracts until a new president was elected in late 1896. By November, the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York agreed to fund the project, giving the society a $135,000 mortgage. The next month, the ASCE's new president Thomas Curtis Clarke announced that a construction contract had been awarded to Charles T. Wills for $86,775. The Society House was supposed to have been completed by September 1897, but construction was further held up by strikes among the plasterers and steamfitters working on the project.
ASCE headquarters
The ASCE Society House officially opened on November 24, 1897, and ultimately cost $206,284 (). At the building's opening, Benjamin M. Harrod, ASCE's president, stated that the building had been designed as a headquarters of a professional association rather than as a clubhouse. The ASCE stated in a pamphlet that the Society House was the first building in the United States to be built "solely for the use of a professional engineering society". The committee in charge of overseeing the society house's construction was disbanded in late 1898, their work having been completed.