Completed in 1988, it was designed by Roy Gee for Emery Roth and Sons for developers William Kaufman Organization and JMB Realty.

The building is shaped like a quarter round, with a curved glass facade facing New York Harbor.

Next to the lobby was a public exhibition space called "New York Unearthed", which was operated by the South Street Seaport Museum from 1990 to 2005.

The building, a speculative development, replaced the 23-story headquarters of the Seamen's Church Institute of New York and New Jersey, which had been completed by 1969.

The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America bought 17 State Street in 1989 and sold it to Steve Witkoff in 1998.

[7] Prior to the expansion of Lower Manhattan in the 18th and 19th centuries, the site of 17 State Street was directly along the shore line of New York Harbor.

[13][14] The Seamen's Church Institute of New York and New Jersey had announced plans for a tower on the site in 1966, replacing the Chesebrough Building.

[16] Eggers & Higgins designed the Seamen's Church Institute Building,[17][18] a red-brick structure that opened in 1968[19] or 1969.

[18][20] The structure had classrooms and other training facilities on its lowest five floors, while the upper 18 stories included 260 rooms for sailors who lived there.

[28] At night, a light beam extended above the building's roof, creating what architectural writer Paul Goldberger described as "quite literally a beacon for Lower Manhattan".

[28] 17 State Street's office stories are supported by aluminum columns, which rise 25 ft (7.6 m) above ground level.

[23][28] The rotunda leads to a pair of rectangular elevator lobbies, which contain walls with X-shaped trusses.

[24] Next to the lobby was a public exhibition space called "New York Unearthed", which was operated by the South Street Seaport Museum[29][31] and displayed artifacts that had been excavated in Lower Manhattan.

[9] Work was temporarily halted in April 1986 after a staff member of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) determined that the site might contain artifacts relating to the family of Abraham Isaacs.

[39][40] Ultimately, the South Street Seaport Museum was contracted to display these artifacts in a permanent public exhibition next to the building.

It was one of four large office buildings in Lower Manhattan completed around that time, along with 225 Liberty Street, 7 World Trade Center, and 32 Old Slip.

[43] The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), which held a mortgage on 17 State Street, bought the building in 1989 for more than $157.5 million.

[10][44] By taking full ownership of 17 State Street, TIAA could fund building improvements with its own capital and lease out the remaining vacant space.

[53] RFR Holding LLC, a partnership led by German investors Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs, bought the structure in late 1999 for $120 million.

[59] 17 State Street was affected by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, primarily by water damage to electrical equipment in the building's basement.

[71] Justin Davidson wrote for New York magazine in 2010: "The tip of Manhattan lays out the stratified chaos of history, as the eighteenth-century James Watson House rubs up against the curving glass pillar of 17 State Street from the 1980s.