Designed by the architect R. H. Robertson, it is one of the first skyscrapers built from a steel skeleton and was among New York City's tallest buildings when it was completed.

150 Nassau Street is located in the Financial District of Manhattan, just east of New York City Hall and the Civic Center.

[15][14] Much of the building is 20 stories high, except for its northwestern corner, which contains a small three-story tower with a pitched roof.

[17] The Nassau Street side consists of a three-story arcade, meant to complement 41 Park Row to the west, with an open-air top story.

[15] At the time of 150 Nassau Street's construction, the facades of many 19th-century early skyscrapers consisted of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, midsection, and capital.

150 Nassau Street contains six horizontal layers, divided by band courses and cornices: of these, two are in the base, three in the midsection, and one at the capital.

[15] The main entrance, located in the center bay on Nassau Street, consists of a double-height archway supported by two pairs of columns, one on each side.

[10][13][19] The basement on the Spruce Street side is visible due to the downward slope of the lot from west to east.

[20] The southern and eastern facades are made of self-supporting brick below the 13th floor and are supported by lattice girders above that point.

The lower five stories of the eastern facade served as a party wall to a now-demolished building on Spruce Street.

When built, the top story contained further ornamentation such as a flagpole and finials, which caused the building to stand out on the skyline.

The winged figures on the facade's uppermost portion were similar to that of Robertson's previous Corn Exchange Bank building at William and Nassau Streets.

Atop each piling was granite blocks, then vertical brick piers, and finally cast-iron footings for the building's columns.

[13][19] 150 Nassau Street features six elevators arranged around a semicircular space in the northwest corner of the building.

Two storefronts were located at ground level and there was space for four additional stores in the basement; the 22nd floor also contained a restaurant.

[33] Two years later, ATS decided instead to build a new speculative skyscraper on its current land, calling the site "a safe and remunerative investment".

[31][36] ATS bought two nearby lots in March 1894[37] and Robertson announced plans for a new 23-story skyscraper on the site the following month.

The structure was erected with the largest derrick utilized in the city at the time, completing two stories per week.

[40] There were fears that the adjacent Morse Building was structurally unstable when a crack appeared in the facade due to 150 Nassau Street's construction, though engineers said it was not serious.

[43] The New York Life Insurance Company offered ATS a $1.25 million mortgage loan on the property that July.

[13] 150 Nassau Street was largely a speculative development, relying on businesses from the nearby Civic Center neighborhood to occupy the structure.

Upon the building's completion, the New York City Department of Public Works leased the basement, 17th floor, and one of the two ground-level storefronts.

[50] The elevator accidents, which were covered intensively by the media, were among the reasons why tenants were reluctant to rent space in the building.

[52] In subsequent years, 150 Nassau Street was occupied by ATS's publishing and administrative offices, as well as several "tenants of questionable character", which in turn led to accusations of mismanagement.

[46] ATS defaulted on the mortgage in 1913, and after unsuccessfully attempting to raise funds, gave the structure to the New York Life Company the following year.

A controversy ensued when Nassau Equities' executive Jack Lefkowitz attempted to evict all the tenants at once.

[72] Sarah Landau, summarizing critics' general sentiments toward the building, said that "detractors object[ed] to the breaking up of the street elevations into six horizontal divisions and to the considerable diversity of treatment from top to bottom", but that the layers were typical of Robertson's designs.

[22] Montgomery Schuyler praised the design of the building's top, but was critical of the facade's six-part horizontal division, saying that it was "arbitrary" and failed to "correspond to any actual requirement, mechanical or aesthetic".

[15] An Engineering News article stated that, as a result of the inclusion of details such as belt courses, "the general treatment of the building by its designer is very good and the appearance is quite pleasing".