The brownstone initially served as the headquarters of the Hanover Bank, while other commercial tenants occupied the brick buildings.

In 1914, the structures were purchased by the India House, a private club for gentlemen involved in foreign commerce, which continues to occupy the building.

Over the years, various architects have made renovations to One Hanover Square, with the three Stone Street stores being gradually combined with the brownstone structure between the 1870s and 1910s.

[7] By the next decade, the southern portion of the lot was sold to Evert Duyckingh (also "Duyckinck"), who developed a house on the site.

[25][26] The tall windows on the first floor are each flanked by paneled pilasters, which are topped by console brackets that support segmentally arched pediments.

[32] In Harry's Steakhouse and Restaurant, which occupies the building's basement, were murals with images of drunken monks making wine.

There is a reception counter made of marble and wood, as well as a lounge with mid-20th-century seating, a wood-burning fireplace, a bar, and suspended gold fixtures.

Among the maritime artifacts were a pair of cannons flanking the first-floor staircase banisters and a bell from the luxury ship SS Leviathan.

[13][14] Some of the occupants of the buildings by 1839 included merchant Edward Gould, hardware vendor F. T. Luqueer, and three or more dry-goods companies.

[19] Maps indicate that two additional brownstone bays at 103 Pearl Street were added sometime between 1862 and 1879 to designs by an unidentified architect.

[21] According to the India House club, part of 1 Hanover Square was also occupied by Robert L. Maitland,[16] while an 1869 directory listed Meadows T. Nicholson & Son as another occupant of the brownstone.

[37] The New York Cotton Exchange, founded in 1870,[13][40][43] was initially housed in rented quarters nearby at 142 Pearl Street.

[29] The architect Ebenezer L. Roberts reconfigured the interior and added the present main doorway with a clock face and a "Cotton Exchange" name identification sign.

Finding it impossible to purchase the brick rowhouses adjoining 1 Hanover Square, the exchange decided instead to look for sites for a new structure.

[40] Shortly after W. R. Grace and Company had moved to the building, Julius Kastner designed and constructed the fire escapes on Stone and Pearl Streets.

[6] In 1899, 1 Hanover Square was merged with the commercial building at 62 Stone Street/99 Pearl Street, which previously had been owned by the estate of Manley B.

[53] The India House, a private club for gentlemen involved in foreign commerce, was founded by James A. Farrell and Willard Straight in July 1914.

[56] George Ehret renovated the structure, removing the parapet atop the brownstone and adding a light-colored coating to the facade.

[62] 1 Hanover Square was subsequently bought by Straight in 1918,[16][41] and his widow Dorothy Payne Whitney continued to hold the property after his death the same year.

[67] The line's demolition allowed both greater sunlight and quieter meetings; according to the India Club's president, the passing trains were loud and had shaken the foundations of the building.

[50] In 1951, shortly after the elevated line's removal, the India House club decided to renovate the exterior of 1 Hanover Square to plans by Nicholson & Galloway.

By the 1980s, the bar typically served hundreds of patrons during lunch and dinner, and it had private telephone lines connecting to nearby brokerage houses.

[73][33] Following the financial crisis of 1987, the Broad Street Club merged with the India House and moved to 1 Hanover Square.

[79][80] After Adrienne Poulakakos died in August 2003, and amid a general decline in patronage, Harry's suddenly closed that November,[73] but Bayard's and the India Club continued to operate.

[81] Around that time, the India House began to restore 1 Hanover Square's facade, which had long been covered with brown stucco.

[83][84] Also in the mid-2000s, Peter Poulakakos opened and co-operated Ulysses Folk House and Adrienne's Pizza Bar within 1 Hanover Square and the adjacent buildings on Pearl and Stone Streets.

[88][89] Design firms Husband Wife and S9 Architecture conducted a renovation of 1 Hanover Square, which was completed in September 2023.

[89] The main structure was described by the AIA Guide to New York City as having "unfluted Corinthian columns and pedimented windows [that] give an understated enrichment to the dour brownstone".

[12] After the India Club moved into 1 Hanover Square, a reporter for The New York Times said in 1929 that the "quiet dignity of the nineteenth century architecture [...] furnishes a sharp contrast with the massive towers of banks and commercial structures in the Wall Street district" nearby.

[91] A Times reporter wrote in 2001 that the India Club building "evokes the heyday of Manhattan's waterfront" despite being one block inland.