Named after French sculptor Auguste Rodin, the building is one of several in Manhattan that were built in the early 20th century as both studios and residences for artists.

The main facades are clad in polychrome buff and gray brick, and contain French Renaissance-inspired trim made of terracotta and iron.

The Rodin Studios is on the southwestern corner of 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, two blocks south of Central Park in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City.

Other nearby buildings include the American Fine Arts Society (also known as the Art Students League of New York building) and Central Park Tower to the northwest; Alwyn Court and the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing to the northeast; and 218 and 224 West 57th Street to the west.

[9] The Rodin Studios' site was previously occupied by the Inverness, a seven-story brick-and-stone apartment building that had been developed in 1881.

[21] The Rodin Studios' facade is clad largely in buff brick alternating with gray or burnt-gold highlights.

[22] At the southernmost end of the Seventh Avenue elevation, there is an ornate arched gateway, which is a service entrance to the ground-level restaurant there.

[24] The ornamental detail includes screens over the studio windows, as well as carvings of animals and human grotesques.

[24] On the third through twelfth stories facing 57th Street, there are double-height window openings, designed to maximize sun exposure for artists.

[23] On the fourteenth story, there are decorative niches in each narrow bay, containing depictions of marmosets making different facial expressions.

[29] The remainder of the building was dedicated to artists' studios in single-story simplex and double-story duplex layouts, customized for each different resident's needs.

During that time, John Fry became vice president of the Gainsborough Studios corporation, in which he learned about the operation of artists' cooperatives.

[3] The next month, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company loaned $700,000 (equivalent to $14,510,000 in 2023[a]) to the Rodin Studios corporation, while Georgia Fry provided a second mortgage of $200,000.

[4] Gilbert submitted revised plans that November, and the New York City Board of Estimate exempted the Rodin Studios from the new zoning law.

[4][17] The Rodin Studios corporation received a loan of $800,000 in May 1922, and Kelly-Springfield leased the ground-floor corner storefront and second floor.

[42][43] The studios were not only occupied by artists; the 1930 United States Census indicated that the residents included bankers, cotton brokers, and railroad engineers.

[46] Additionally, Johann Berthelsen operated a private school of voice in the Rodin Studios,[47] while architect John Eberson opened an office in the building in 1926.

[55][56][d] Subsequently, architects Zaskorski & Notaro and engineers Robert Silman Associates were hired to restore the facade, replacing one-tenth of the terracotta.

[58] By the 2010s, the building's tenants included medical and dental offices, law companies, film and television producers, and talent agencies.

"[14] The magazine The Art World called the Rodin Studios "strong yet graceful, solidly planted on the ground, yet lifting the mind of the observer upwards willy-nilly.