The interior originally contained a lounge, reading room, auditorium, offices, and stacks for the ASCE's library.

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.

After moving out, the ASCE continued to own 218 West 57th Street until 1966, leasing the space to automotive showrooms and various office tenants.

[7] 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.

[12] 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).

[20] 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.

[14] When used by the ASCE, the basement had a heating and electrical plant that projected 30 feet (9.1 m) underneath the sidewalk, as well as storage and publication rooms and a janitors' apartment.

[27] The ASCE was founded in 1852 and held its first meetings at the Croton Aqueduct Department building in City Hall Park, Manhattan.

[7][29] 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.

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.

[49] Due to uncertainties over funding, the ASCE building committee delayed the awarding of construction contracts until a new president was elected in late 1896.

[15][50] By November, the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York agreed to fund the project,[14][15] giving the society a $135,000 mortgage.

[51] The next month, the ASCE's new president Thomas Curtis Clarke announced that a construction contract had been awarded[52] to Charles T. Wills for $86,775.

[14][15] 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.

[61] Instead, the board decided to purchase an additional lot to the west of the existing ASCE Society House, measuring about 25 by 115 feet (7.6 by 35.1 m).

[62][63] Plans for the annex were filed in May,[64] and the next month, the ASCE purchased the additional lot from the Island Realty Company[65] for over $100,000.

[69] After the ASCE's relocation, the Federal Food Board immediately leased the space, moving to 218 West 57th Street in December 1917.

[59] The Ajax Rubber Company, at the time one of the largest pneumatic tire makers in the United States, leased 218 West 57th Street in July 1918.

[71] Subsequently, Arnold W. Brunner modified the ground floor into Ajax's tire showrooms, and the renovation was completed by January 1919.

[65][73] Elias A. Cohen leased the underlying from the ASCE in 1926, intending to replace the old Society House with a skyscraper, though the plans did not come to fruition.

[85][88] Two years later, the Arlen Realty and Development Corporation acquired 218 West 57th Street from Horn for about $1 million,[85][89] and also purchased several adjacent plots to the east.

[90] Meanwhile, Schrafft's was experiencing a financial downturn by 1972, when it sold off several buildings and moved its accounting offices to 218 West 57th Street.

[94] The move had been necessitated because Lee's needed ten times the space of its previous location, which required an open-plan layout for the store.

[26] The upper floors were leased to tenants such as the state's Department of Mental Hygiene and the Restaurant League of New York, as well as public-relations firms, construction contractors, and companies selling typewriter and geriatric equipment.

Two months later, Safdieh sued Steinberg and Isaacs for $10 million over a breach of a sale agreement, and alleged that the store was illegally using the upper stories because they were zoned for office use.

[100] The lawsuit was subsequently dismissed,[101] and in 2014, Thor Equities and General Growth Properties (GGP) went into contract to the building for $85 million.

[103] Steinberg and Isaacs, in their contract with Thor and GGP, had requested two and a half years to wind down their operations,[98] and Lee's Art Shop ultimately closed in mid-2016.

[106][107] To maximize retail income at 218 West 57th Street, the new owners opted to wait until after 2019, when the Nordstrom store in the neighboring Central Park Tower was set to open.

[110] The Real Estate Record and Guide, in an 1897 piece criticizing various works of architecture on West 57th Street, lauded the building for complementing the American Fine Arts Society.

[24] Architectural critic Christopher Gray wrote in 2001 that "the light, sophisticated front of the building fit right in with the artistic ambience of West 57th" when it was completed.