Recommendation for structural engineers

My wife and I just bought a 16-foot brownstone in Carroll Gardens. A prior owner removed the wall on the parlor floor between the staircase and the living room; in its place are two columns supporting a soffit running the depth of the front parlor. We’re doing some minor touch-ups before we move in, and our contractor has recommended replacing the two columns (which are wood posts wrapped in sheetrock) with a single column made from steel. We like the suggestion from an aesthetic perspective, but before we give the go-ahead we’d like to have a structural engineer take a quick look and make sure we’re not accidentally doing something that will cause our brand new house to fall down. Any recommendations?