Studio 54

Long before this building became the legendary nightclub that defined the late nineteen seventies, it was the Gallo Opera House, which opened in nineteen twenty-seven. To ensure the structure did not interfere with the construction of the Eighth Avenue subway line running beneath it, the original architect, Eugene De Rosa, suspended the theater’s foundation, orchestra, and balcony from the roof of the building itself. This creative engineering left the interior space uniquely open and airy, a feature that Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager later exploited to great effect when they converted the former CBS television studio into a discotheque in only six weeks.