United Engineering Center

By the early 1950s, the professional engineering organizations that occupied the Engineering Societies' Building on West 39th Street in Midtown Manhattan had outgrown their space and were seeking larger accommodations. The building was owned and operated by the United Engineering Trustees (UET), which represented the four "founder societies" and the major tenants of the building: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE); and American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME). At that time, a fifth organization, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), wanted to join the group and move into the new building with the other engineering societies. The Engineering Societies' Building also served as the home of the Engineering Societies Library (ESL), which was one of the largest engineering libraries in the world.{{cite news |date=August 26, 1953 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/08/26/archives/engineering-groups-seek-a-new-center.html |title=Engineering Groups Seek a New Center |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{cite magazine |date=February 1955 |url=https://usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1955-02.pdf |title=NYC Leading as Engineers Consider New Headquarters |magazine=Architectural Forum |volume=102 |number=2 |pages=21, 25 |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{cite news |date=February 4, 1955 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/02/04/archives/engineer-center-facing-removal-expresidents-of-5-national-societies.html |title=Engineer Center Facing Removal |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}}

There were initial considerations of a constructing a new engineering center in another part of New York City—including sites on the campus of Columbia University and adjacent to the New York Coliseum—but these locations were dismissed as being impracticable. A number of other cities in the United States—including Chicago, Hoboken, Kansas City, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Shreveport, St. Louis, and Washington—tried to entice the engineering societies to relocate their national headquarters outside of New York City. In 1955, a committee established by the five major engineering societies recommended moving to Pittsburgh, which had offered a $1.5 million cash incentive and an additional gift of $500,000 from the Mellon family. The recommendation to relocate was met with opposition from members of each of the societies, and the following year, another committee of the five major engineering societies recommended to retain the headquarters in New York City.{{cite news |last=Grutzner |first=Charles |date=June 28, 1956 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/06/28/archives/engineer-center-likely-to-remain-special-committee-of-five.html |title=Engineer Center Likely To Remain |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}} UET then hired Shreve, Lamb & Harmon to prepare preliminary architectural plans and studies for a new engineering center in Manhattan, exploring options of utilizing the present site of the Engineering Societies' Building or a new location in the area between 34th and 57th streets.{{cite news |date=November 14, 1956 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/11/14/archives/engineers-studying-joint-center-here.html |title=Engineers Studying Joint Center Here |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{cite news |last=Ryan |first=Jack R. |date=November 18, 1956 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/11/18/archives/engineers-home-will-remain-here-major-societies-resist-the-lures-of.html |title=Engineers' Home Will Remain Here |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}}

On August 1, 1957, UET announced that it had acquired the majority of a new site for the proposed engineering center. The property was located on the west side of United Nations Plaza between East 47th and 48th streets, across from the headquarters of the United Nations, and consisted of a five-story tenement, parking facilities and vacant land.{{cite news |date=August 1, 1957 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/08/01/archives/engineer-group-gets-east-side-blockfront-as-site-for-a-new.html |title=Engineer Group Gets East Side Blockfront As Site for a New Headquarters Building |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://ethw.org/w/images/a/a2/1.3.58a_Financial_Statements.pdf |title=Annual Report for the Fiscal Year October 1, 1960 to September 30, 1961 |publisher=United Engineering Trustees, Inc. |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{cite magazine |date=September 1957 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6442719 |title=Site for new United Engineering Center Obtained Near United Nations Headquarters |magazine=Electrical Engineering |publisher=American Institute of Electrical Engineers |volume=76 |issue=9 |page=806 |doi=10.1109/EE.1957.6442719 |access-date=March 31, 2025}} The owner of the smallest piece of land had held out and did not want to sell, but with the help of Robert Moses he finally changed his mind and decided to sell the property.{{cite journal |date=May 1985 |title=Engineering Center to mark 25th anniversary |journal=Lighting Design + Application |publisher=Illuminating Engineering Society |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=12–13 |doi=10.1177/036063258501500506}} The UET also signed a contract to purchase the remaining lot at the northeast corner of the site and take title to the land about a year later. Overall, the land lot for the proposed building had an area of {{convert|37,500|sqft}}, with a depth of {{convert|150|ft}} on East 47th Street and a depth of {{convert|225|ft}} on East 48th Street.{{cite magazine |date=December 1957 |url=https://usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1957-12.pdf |title=Engineers' Building to Harmonize with U.N. |magazine=Architectural Forum |volume=107 |number=6 |page=39 |access-date=March 31, 2025}}

Shreve, Lamb & Harmon were selected by UET as the architects of the new building on July 22, 1957. The following month, the firm of Seelye, Stevenson, Value and Knecht was approved as the building's structural engineer and Jaros, Baum & Bolles was approved as the building's mechanical engineer. A campaign to raise funds for the new engineering center—the United Engineering Center (UEC)—was launched on November 21, 1957, at a dinner held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The honorary chairman of the fundraising committee was former President of the United States (and an engineer) Herbert Hoover, who spoke at the dinner about the nation's recent decline in training scientists and engineers compared to the Soviet Union, which had recently launched Sputnik.{{cite news |last=Callahan |first=John P. |date=November 22, 1957 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/22/archives/hoover-prods-us-on-engineer-lag-at-fund-dinner-for-center-he-urges.html |title=Hoover Prods U.S. On Engineer Lag |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{cite news |date=November 22, 1957 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/22/archives/text-of-hoovers-speech-here-on-need-for-engineers.html |title=Text of Hoover's Speech Here on Need for Engineers |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}}

UET signed a contract with Turner Construction to construct the UEC on May 28, 1959.{{cite magazine |date=August 1959 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6445877 |title=Contract Signed for United Engineering Center |magazine=Electrical Engineering |publisher=American Institute of Electrical Engineers |volume=78 |issue=8 |page=860 |doi=10.1109/EE.1959.6445877 |access-date=March 31, 2025}} A groundbreaking ceremony for the new building was held on October 1, 1959, and attended by Herbert Hoover.{{cite news |date=October 2, 1959 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/10/02/archives/hoover-salutes-engineer-groups-calls-them-core-of-security-and.html |title=Hoover Salutes Engineer Groups |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}} Hoover, along with New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr., were present for the cornerstone laying ceremony on June 16, 1960.{{cite news |date=June 17, 1960 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/06/17/archives/freedom-of-mind-urged-by-hoover-it-could-save-civilization-he-says.html |title=Freedom Of Mind Urged By Hoover |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{cite magazine |date=July 1960 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_civil-engineering-1930_1960-07_30_7/page/42/mode/2up |title=Cornerstone laid for United Engineering Center |magazine=Civil Engineering |publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers |volume=30 |number=7 |pages=42–43 |access-date=March 31, 2025}}

The UEC was opened on September 5, 1961, after the engineering organizations had moved into the new building over Labor Day weekend. The engineering societies that were originally housed in the building included the five founder societies (ASCE, ASME, AIEE, AIME, and AIChE) as well as fifteen other organizations:{{cite magazine |last=Hunt |first=Hal W. |date=October 1961

|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_civil-engineering-1930_1961-10_31_10/page/50/mode/2up |title=United Engineering Center |magazine=Civil Engineering |publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers |volume=31 |issue=10 |pages=50–56 |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{cite magazine |date=October 1961 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_mechanical-engineering_1961-10_83_10/page/106/mode/2up |title=ASME HQ: UEC |magazine=Mechanical Engineering |publisher=American Society of Mechanical Engineers |volume=83 |issue=10 |pages=106–109 |access-date=March 31, 2025}}

• American Institute of Consulting Engineers
• American Engineers' Council for Professional Development
• American Institute of Industrial Engineers (Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, now in Norcross, Georgia (northeast of Atlanta))
• American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (now in Atlanta)
• American Welding Society
• Engineering Foundation
• Engineering Index Service
• ESL
• Engineers Joint Council
• Illuminating Engineering Society
• Junior Engineers Technical Society
• Municipal Engineers of the City of New York
• Society of Women Engineers
• UET
• Welding Research Council

Organizations were allowed to take as much space as they desired in the building, and the amount of space taken by each group ranged from as little as one room to as much as three entire floors. Two of the floors were initially left unfinished and vacant, providing space for additional organizations to move into the building at a later date.

File:United Engineering Centre 1967.jpeg

The first official event at the UEC was a luncheon held on September 28, 1961, for the building's neighbors and included representatives from the American Institute of Physics, Boys' Clubs of America, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, IBM World Trade Corporation, Society of Automotive Engineers, United Nations, and United States Mission to the United Nations. The event also included the opening of a metal box that was set in the cornerstone of the Engineering Societies' Building in 1906.{{cite magazine |date=November 1961

|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_civil-engineering-1930_1961-11_31_11/page/74/mode/2up |title=UET Host to Open House for New Neighbors |magazine=Civil Engineering |publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers |volume=31 |issue=11 |page=74 |access-date=March 31, 2025}} The UEC was one of 28 new buildings that were constructed in the neighborhood between 1951 (when the headquarters of the United Nations was completed) and 1965.{{cite news |date=January 24, 1965 |title=Rejuvenation of East Side Stimulated by U.N. Plaza |work=The New York Times |id={{ProQuest|116753393}}}}

The $12.5 million UEC was formally dedicated on November 9, 1961, with Herbert Hoover and Mayor Wagner in attendance. At the event, the Hoover Medal was presented to Mervin Kelly by Hoover himself.{{cite news |last=Benjamin |first=Philip |date=November 10, 1961 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/11/10/archives/hoover-finds-lag-in-engineers-cites-red-progress-at-dedication-of.html |title=Hoover Finds Lag in Engineers |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}} The principal speaker at the dedication ceremony was Dr. Eric A. Walker, the president of Pennsylvania State University.{{cite magazine |date=November 1961

|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_civil-engineering-1930_1961-11_31_11/page/76/mode/2up |title=Plans Completed for UEC Dedication |magazine=Civil Engineering |publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers |volume=31 |issue=11 |pages=76–77 |access-date=March 31, 2025}}

In 1993, UET briefly listed the UEC on the market and the building was considered to be a top candidate for additional space needed by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).{{cite news |last=Feiden |first=Douglas |date=June 7, 1993 |title=Insiders crafts defense to hold on to U.N. jobs |work=Crain's New York Business |id={{ProQuest|219172571}}}}{{cite news |last=Ravo |first=Nick |date=July 18, 1993 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/18/realestate/2-finalists-battle-for-an-expanded-unicef.html |title=2 Finalists Battle for an Expanded Unicef |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}} That same year, UET decided to merge the ESL with another library. In 1995, the bulk of the ESL's collection was moved to the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City. A portion of the ESL's holdings known as the Wheeler Gift Collection had been given to AIEE with the stipulation that the items remain in New York City, so they were transferred to the New York Public Library.{{cite conference |last=Bradley |first=Bruce |year=1995 |url=https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&context=iatul |title=A library of first resort for science, engineering, and technology: The Linda Hall Library |work=Proceedings of IATUL Conferences |volume=5 |article-number=13 |publisher=International Association of University Libraries |pages=120–134 |access-date=April 1, 2025}} Another part of the ESL's holdings that primarily consisted of maps, plans, and photographs was transferred to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.{{cite web |last=Christiansen |first=Donald |date=April 20, 2017 |url=https://insight.ieeeusa.org/articles/what-happened-to-the-engineering-societies-library/ |title=What Happened to the Engineering Societies Library? |work=IEEE-USA InSight |access-date=March 31, 2025}} As part of the merging of the ESL, a reading room and an information center with access to the Linda Hall Library was provided at the UEC.{{cite magazine |date=August 1995 |title=Engineering library leaves New York for Missouri |magazine=Civil Engineering |publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers |volume=65 |issue=8 |page=66 |id={{ProQuest|228479281}}}}

In the mid-1990s, UET decided to sell the UEC and capitalize on New York's strong real estate market, with the proceeds from the sale being distributed among the five founder societies. The building's location was considered to be prime real estate and had unobstructed views of the United Nations and the East River. The building's age and inefficiencies, as well as the changing needs of the organizations it housed, also factored into the decision, as some of the societies had decided to relocate their offices elsewhere.{{cite magazine |date=July 1997 |title=AIChE's headquarters to remain in New York City |magazine=Chemical Engineering Progress |publisher=American Institute of Chemical Engineers |page=1 |id={{ProQuest|221580907}}}}{{cite magazine |date=August 1997 |title= Selling the United Engineering Center—What does it mean? |magazine=Chemical Engineering Progress |publisher=American Institute of Chemical Engineers |page=1 |id={{ProQuest|221546007}}}}{{cite magazine |date=October 1997 |title=AIChE's relocation decision—weighing the issues |magazine=Chemical Engineering Progress |publisher=American Institute of Chemical Engineers |page=12 |id={{ProQuest|221550860}}}}{{cite magazine |last=Petroski |first=Henry |date=October 2008 |title=Founding Societies |magazine=ASEE Prism |publisher=American Society for Engineering Education |volume=18 |issue=2 |page=31 |id={{ProQuest|236164604}}}}

File:Trump World Tower and East River in Manhattan, New York City (cropped).jpg

The developer (and later U.S. President) Donald Trump and the Daewoo Corporation signed a contract to purchase the site in 1997.{{cite news |last=Rozhon |first=Tracie |date=September 12, 1997 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/12/nyregion/a-new-trump-tower-could-overshadow-diplomacy.html |title=A New Trump Tower Could Overshadow Diplomacy |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}} Meanwhile, Trump began buying unused air rights from neighboring properties on the west side of the property, including the Church of the Holy Family and the Japan Society. These air rights, along with a planned public plaza, would enable a larger building to be constructed as-of-right within the existing zoning regulations.{{cite news |last=Bagli |first=Charles V. |date=October 16, 1998 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/16/nyregion/trump-starts-a-new-tower-near-the-un.html |title=Trump Starts A New Tower Near the U.N. |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{Cite NY2000}} p. 411. The UEC was sold the following year for $53.5 million.{{cite news |date=June 29, 1998 |title=Building sale nets $9m for the IEEE |work=Electronic Engineering Times |issue=1014 |page=111 |id={{ProQuest|208120992}}}} Demolition of the UEC began on October 15, 1998, to make way for the {{convert|861|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} Trump World Tower.

Three of the five founder societies that had occupied the UEC—ASME, AIChE, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (the successor of AIEE)—relocated their corporate offices to 3 Park Avenue; ASCE and AIME each had a small office suite in the same building.{{cite news |last=Rothstein |first=Mervyn |date=March 11, 1998 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/11/nyregion/commercial-real-estate-with-major-tenant-lost-upgrading-plan-pays-off.html |title=With Major Tenant Lost, Upgrading Plan Pays Off |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{cite magazine |date=March 1998 |title=Lease agreement signed for new office space |magazine=Chemical Engineering Progress |publisher=American Institute of Chemical Engineers |page=3 |id={{ProQuest|221516345}}}} ASCE had previously relocated its headquarters from New York City to Reston, Virginia, in 1996.{{cite magazine |date=July 1996 |title=ASCE moves to Reston, VA., this month |magazine=Civil Engineering |publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers |volume=66 |issue=7 |page=70 |id={{ProQuest|228488163}}}}

The exterior of the UEC was designed in the modernist architecture style to complement the United Nations Secretariat Building.{{cite web |url=http://www.emporis.com/buildings/102535/united-engineering-center-new-york-city-ny-usa |title=United Engineering Center |website=Emporis |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507111524/http://www.emporis.com/buildings/102535/united-engineering-center-new-york-city-ny-usa |archive-date=May 7, 2016}} The building included a twenty-story, {{convert|283|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} tower that rose above a three-story base and was fabricated out of glass, stainless steel, and limestone. A total of {{convert|170,000|lbs}} of stainless steel was used for the window frames and mullions as well as the covers of the columns protruding from the face of the tower; the material was selected for its appearance, durability, and low cost of maintenance. The face of the tower also had a curtain wall with bluish gray-tinted glass in the spandrels between floors. The main entrance to the building was set back {{convert|27|ft}} from East 47th Street to create a plaza.{{cite magazine |date=July 1960 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_civil-engineering-1930_1960-07_30_7/page/62/mode/2up |title=United Engineering Center, an all-welded structure |magazine=Civil Engineering |publisher=American Society of Civil Engineers |volume=30 |number=7 |pages=62–64 |access-date=March 31, 2025}}{{cite news |date=November 19, 1961 |title=Engineers Open New Center Here |work=The New York Times |id={{ProQuest|115271388}}}}

The main floor of the building included a lobby, exhibition hall, auditorium, and dining/conference rooms. A {{convert|6,000|sqft|adj=on}} exhibition hall was located next to the lobby and included floor-to-ceiling glass windows on the east side of the building facing United Nations Plaza. The auditorium could fit up to 400 people and could be subdivided into three smaller meeting rooms. Dining/conference rooms, with capacities of 20–100 people, were located across from a pantry connected to a kitchen in the basement. The basement level (located at street level on East 48th Street due to grade changes on the site) also included an employees' lounge and a 250-seat dining room that surrounded an interior courtyard as well as the building's service entrance and loading dock. The ESL could hold up to 225,000 volumes and included a reading room with seating for up to 80 people on the second floor.

The offices for the individual organizations were located in the tower, which included mechanical floors on the upper two levels. The {{convert|69|by|139|ft|adj=on}} tower was designed to accommodate a future expansion by placing additional floors over the library on the third through twelfth floors. A total of four elevators served the tower and provisions were made so that two more elevators could be added if the building was expanded. The tower contained {{convert|258,000|sqft}} of office space and up to {{convert|75,000|sqft}} of space could be added by the expansion.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite magazine |date=October 1959 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6445985 |title=New United Engineering Center |magazine=Electrical Engineering |publisher=American Institute of Electrical Engineers |volume=78 |issue=10 |pages=1037–1038 |doi=10.1109/EE.1959.6445985}}

{{Midtown East, Manhattan}}

Category:1960s architecture in the United States

Category:1961 establishments in New York City

Category:1998 disestablishments in New York City

Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1961

Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1998

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan

Category:First Avenue (Manhattan)

Category:Modernist architecture in New York City

Category:Office buildings completed in 1961

Category:Turtle Bay, Manhattan