Society House of the American Society of Civil Engineers
218 West 57th Street | also 220 West 57th Street | Midtown | built 1897
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1897
The American Society of Civil Engineers opens its French Renaissance clubhouse
Architect Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz designed the limestone headquarters, and the society dedicated it with speeches from Bishop Henry Codman Potter, lawyer Joseph H. Choate, and Cornell president J. G. Schurman. The building cost $206,284 and gave the engineers a reading room, library stacks, and an auditorium. The society added a western annex in 1905-1906 before moving out in 1917.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1906
The engineers decline Carnegie's shared clubhouse and enlarge their own instead
After Andrew Carnegie announced a $1 million gift in 1903 toward a national engineers' clubhouse, the ASCE's members voted in a referendum not to join. The board chose to expand its Society House, since the entrance hall, auditorium and lounge could not comfortably hold the crowds at annual meetings. The lot to the west was bought for $100,000 in June 1904, and a two-bay, 25-foot-wide annex built by William L. Crow went up between June 1905 and January 1906 for $61,430.
“ASCE, however, declined to join this scheme following a referendum of its membership. Instead, the Board of Direction embarked on an expansion of its Society House…”
- 1918
The Federal Food Board warns 150 wealthy New Yorkers about wartime rationing
Soon after the engineers left in December 1917, the Federal Food Board moved into the old Society House. On February 2, 1918, more than 150 wealthy New Yorkers met there to hear F. C. Walcott warn that hotels and restaurants could be put under license if they kept ignoring the wheatless, meatless and porkless days. Mrs. F. Gray Griswold replied that food could be saved by curbing extravagant servants, and a mass meeting of servants and butlers was arranged at the Century Theatre.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1918
Ajax Rubber leases the Society House for tire showrooms
In July 1918 the Ajax Rubber Company, one of the country's leading makers of pneumatic tires and tubes, took a lease on the old Society House for offices and showrooms. Architect Arnold W. Brunner re-clad the ground story and opened up wide storefront bays, finishing in January 1919. The Landmarks report sets the move against Broadway's "Automobile Row," where tire makers and car dealers had showrooms.
“In July 1918, the Ajax Rubber Co. one of the nation's leading manufacturers of pneumatic tires and tubes, leased the former Society House…”
- 1929
Schrafft's opens a 500-seat restaurant in the former engineers' clubhouse
After the Ajax Rubber Company and a Stearns-Knight automobile showroom had occupied the ground floor, the Schrafft's chain renovated the building and opened a large restaurant there. The lunchroom served sandwiches, ice cream, and, after Prohibition, alcohol to Midtown shoppers and office workers for decades.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1932
The New York State Federation of Women's Clubs announces new headquarters on the fourth floor
In May 1932 it was announced that a new, larger headquarters for the New York State Federation of Women's Clubs would open on the fourth floor of 220 West 57th Street, with a housewarming and tea hosted by Mrs. Oliver Harriman. The Frank G. Shattuck Company, which ran the Schrafft's restaurant in the building, contributed the clubrooms as a center for the city's clubwomen. The restaurant became a venue for women's dinners, including a 1937 D.A.R. tea to raise money for the Morris-Jumel Mansion.
- 1968
Arlen Realty buys the old Society House and keeps it beside a new tower
In August 1968 the Arlen Operating Company, run by partners Arthur G. Cohen and Arthur N. Levien, bought the former Society House for around a million dollars. The same month it announced a 45-story office tower, 888 Seventh Avenue, to the east, with a small park between the tower and the old building. Keeping the Society House standing earned a zoning credit that allowed the tower a greater height.
“…the former ASCE Society House, which would remain extant and from which a "zoning credit" was received to allow a higher building height…”
- 1975
Lee's Art Shop moves into the old Schrafft's building
After Schrafft's closed in the early 1970s, the art-supply retailer Lee's Art Shop took over the ground floor and gradually expanded to fill all four floors of the former engineers' headquarters. The store remained a fixture for artists and students on West 57th Street until it closed in 2016.
Source: Ephemeral New York
- 2008
The city designates the former engineers' headquarters a landmark
More than a century after its 1897 opening, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the French Renaissance Revival building a New York City landmark. The designation protected Cyrus Eidlitz's carved limestone facade after decades in which the building had passed from an engineering society to a restaurant chain to an art-supply store.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2025
An immersive Phantom of the Opera show, Masquerade, takes over the old Lee's Art Shop space
In April 2025 it was announced that Masquerade, an immersive production inspired by the Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera, would take over the space once occupied by Lee's Art Shop. Planned to open on July 31 for six weeks, it had its run extended several times, to March 2026. Lee's had occupied the building from 1975 to 2016; afterward it stood vacant apart from short-run themed attractions such as an interactive Downton Abbey exhibit in 2017-18.
“…an immersive show named Masquerade, based on the Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera, would open in the Lee's Art Shop space…”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- 218 West 57th StreetWikipedia
- The American Society of Civil Engineers -- No. 220 West 57th StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
- An 1897 building and a changing West 57th StreetEphemeral New York
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