The building was designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects and Emery Roth & Sons and was developed by David and Jean Solomon.

[4] The site had contained two six-story buildings before 1986: the Strand Theatre, a movie house, as well as Leighton's Haberdashers and Clothiers, which had operated on Broadway for 67 years.

The other spaces on this corridor are Shubert Alley, a passageway under the New York Marriott Marquis, the lobby of the Hotel Edison, and a driveway under the Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan.

[29] The suite is clad in granite and three types of wood;[35][39] architect Charles Gwathmey said this arose from Morgan Stanley's desire for "real materials".

[43] Husband-and-wife team David and Jean Solomon had become involved in acquiring and residential structures in Manhattan during the late 1970s, moving on to office buildings in the following decade.

[5] The New York City Planning Commission (CPC) was considering enacting regulations that would have forced new buildings along Times Square's northern section to include bright signage as well as deep setbacks.

[48] To attain additional floor area, Solomon Equities purchased the Barrymore Theatre's unused air development rights from the Shubert Organization.

[53] The CPC approved a planning regulation in September 1987, which required large new developments in Times Square to set aside about 5 percent of their space for "entertainment uses", such as broadcast studios or ground-floor stores.

[28] The ordinance also required the developers of such buildings to install large signs facing Times Square;[59] the Solomons modified their plans as a result.

[61][62] Law firm Proskauer Rose leased 426,000 sq ft (39,600 m2) at 1585 Broadway that August,[63][64][65] with officials citing cheaper rents and newer mechanical systems in their decision.

The Solomons subsequently missed an interest payment that December, and debts accumulated to the point where Consolidated Edison shut off the building's heat service in early 1991.

[86][91] EAB successfully sued the Solomons in June 1991 for failure to pay back the loan,[93] and several of the building's construction contractors filed mechanics' liens against the property throughout mid-1991.

The law firm was paying for the building's utilities, insurance premiums, and security guards from their own budget,[86] then credited these costs against its rent charges.

[87] At the end of December 1991, Solomon Equities filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition for 1585 Broadway,[92][95][96] having not signed a single tenant for the building in the previous three years.

[92][95] As a result of the Chapter 11 filing, the foreclosure proceedings on the building were placed on hold,[86] and David Solomon was relieved of his duty to pay $3.4 million in property taxes.

[91] The lenders had arranged to sell 1585 Broadway to Primerica Corporation, which would have relocated its stock brokerage division, Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Company, into the building.

[43][99][100] The deal collapsed when Primerica acquired another brokerage, Shearson, and began laying off Smith Barney workers, making the additional space unnecessary.

[102] The lenders' acrimonious negotiations also turned away financial-services company Mastercard, which was looking for a new Manhattan headquarters in late 1992 and had identified four buildings, including 1585 Broadway, as possible locations.

[111] Morgan Stanley had considered moving to Connecticut but had decided to stay in New York City after being offered $40 million in tax abatements.

[108][110] A spokesman for Cushman and Wakefield said Morgan Stanley's purchase "gave people confidence that the financial community is staying in New York".

[11] The firm of Brennan Beer Gorman Monk designed an information booth for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter within one of 1585 Broadway's storefronts in 1998.

[31] Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Morgan Stanley dispersed employees from its Times Square "campus" to reduce the risk created by concentrating of so many workers in a small area.

[132] Morgan Stanley began turning off the building's lights at night in 2005 to reduce the risk of migratory birds crashing into the facade.

[133] The planters outside the building were removed in 2006; the New York City Police Department said that the barriers were ineffective at preventing vehicular attacks while also obstructing pedestrian flow.

[137] There had been tension between the two tenants, since Proskauer Rose had occupied a comparatively small amount of space in the building while Morgan Stanley had used the structure as its headquarters.

[145] Morgan Stanley retained ownership of 1585 Broadway, even after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, when other companies were selling or subletting their space.

[37] Paul Goldberger wrote for The New York Times: "For this building has a real facade, designed to stand on its own, that looks reasonable even when not a square inch of the sign space is rented.

[148] In 1992, Herbert Muschamp of the Times described 1585 Broadway as "a square chaperone dressed in starchy gray, peering down sternly at the indecorous doings in the street below".

[149] Ada Louise Huxtable characterized the building as "a stunning event", saying the design "carries the sheer, sleek precision of the modernist curtain wall to new intricacy and richness".

[150] After the building was renovated, Stanley Abercrombie wrote for Interior Design magazine in 1996: "Above the signage area, the tower is a cool, symmetrical shaft [...] continuing the downstairs glitter with quiet composure".