The British auction house Bonhams will relocate its New York City headquarters to the historic Steinway Hall at 111 West 57th Street—on a strip of the street nicknamed Billionaire's Row—by late 2025. At 42,000 sq. ft, the new space will feature four levels of galleries, two auction rooms and increase Bonhams New York’s square footage by 30% compared to the current location on Madison Avenue, where it has been since 2008.
Steinway Hall was designed in 1925 by famed New York architects Warren & Wetmore, one of the most successful firms of the early 20th century (it also helped design Grand Central Terminal). The building was constructed for the Steinway & Sons piano company. The designated city landmark also shares an address with the more contemporary 111 West 57th Street luxury condominium tower, completed in 2022. Bonhams is leasing out Steinway Hall, its formal reception hall and a lofty 80ft glass atrium designed by Shop Architects, the firm that designed the neighbouring skyscraper.
A rendering of the new Bonhams New York headquarters by Gensler design firm Courtesy Bonhams
“This is a meaningful milestone for Bonhams and our global network of auction houses,” Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, Bonhams' executive chairman, said in a statement. "It demonstrates our unwavering commitment to the US market. The Steinway Hall symbolises Bonhams's commitment to heritage—and the way in which we’re embracing the future."
The architecture firm Gensler has been tapped to design the new salesroom interiors. The design firm has completed projects for other New York institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Saks Fifth Avenue department store. The new location will feature workspace for all of Bonhams’s US employees, as well as client meeting rooms and a dedicated photography studio and space for warehousing with a loading bay.
Last year, Sotheby’s announced it had purchased architect Marcel Breuer's former Whitney Museum building on Madison Avenue for a reported $100m. In August, Christie’s announced it had extended its lease at Rockefeller Center, its home in New York since 1997, for another 25 years. In 2021, Phillips took over several floors at the base of another of New York's new slim, "supertall" residential towers, 432 Park Avenue.