This building has the distinction of being Cass Gilbert’s first completed design in New York.   It was the first of several that Gilbert designed in the city including the US Customs House and the Woolworth Building. 

The office building had Otis Elevators, communal bathrooms on each floor.  It was a steel building clad in fireproof materials designed to resist high wind pressures.  

The facade incorporates one of Gilbert's trademarks, the extensive use of architectural sculpture on the cornice of the arcade at the top of the building, which includes the heads of lions and women. Numerous windows were used in the design because almost all of the stories were divided into several small rooms.

The construction was considered so interesting, that there were two 11’ models were displayed at the Paris Exposition of 1900.