Built in 2002 for financial services firm Bear Stearns, it was designed by architect David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).

To accommodate the railroad tracks under the site, the foundation and superstructure contain large sloped girders and trusses, and the elevators are placed on the west side of the building.

[15] The roof of the Knapp Building contained a modernist two-story penthouse designed by I. M. Pei and William Lescaze in 1952.

[18] This penthouse included a 25 ft-wide (7.6 m) circular office on the lower level, used by William Zeckendorf of Webb & Knapp.

[18] Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) for defunct investment bank Bear Stearns, 383 Madison Avenue is 755 ft (230 m) tall with 47 floors.

[10][29] About two-thirds of the building's foundation sits above two levels of Metro-North Railroad tracks just north of Grand Central Terminal, rather than being attached to the bedrock itself.

There is also a utility tunnel 15 ft (4.6 m) below the lower track level, which was built in the early 20th century, with unreinforced concrete walls measuring 3 to 10 in (76 to 254 mm) thick.

[26] North and south of the lower core are 18 in-thick (46 cm) concrete shear walls, which run to the building's western elevation.

[33] To compensate for the offset core, the building's eastern elevation contains a Vierendeel truss with columns spaced every 10 ft (3.0 m).

[35] The trading floors, which are immediately above the lobby and storefronts, contain fewer columns than usual, requiring that the upper stories be supported by complex trusses.

Therefore, diagonal girders are installed within the mechanical levels to shift loads up to 42 ft (13 m) westward, between the upper and lower cores.

[26] Above the 18th story, the columns at the perimeter of the octagonal tower are placed 30 ft (9.1 m) apart, creating a rigid moment frame.

[39] Under normal zoning regulations, the maximum FAR for any building on the tower's site was 15, but the developers received two bonuses of 20 percent each, bringing the FAR to 21.6.

[40] There is a set of escalators and a staircase near the northwest corner of the building, which contains an entrance to Grand Central Terminal.

[40] Above the Grand Central North entrance is a mosaic panel showing Manhattan's skyline before the World Trade Center was built.

[12][50] Developer G. Ware Travelstead, who led First Boston Real Estate, acquired the old building from Manhattan Savings Bank in October 1982 for $77.75 million.

Initial plans reached up to 2,200,000 sq ft (200,000 m2) and 140 stories, taller than Sears Tower, the tallest building in the world at the time.

[56] The office floors were to be arranged in a cross, with columns in the building's core to avoid underground tracks at Grand Central Terminal.

[66] Architecture writer Ada Louise Huxtable derided it as "a ski-slide tower of Brobdignagian scale and bulk in what might be called Mesopotamian-Motorola style".

[75] Meanwhile, the CPC had suggested creating a zoning subdistrict in November 1989, wherein Grand Central's 1.7×10^6 sq ft (160,000 m2) of air rights could be transferred to any building in the district.

Among those sites was 383 Madison Avenue, where Travelstead had to finalize his purchase of the air rights within a year of his State Supreme Court lawsuit being decided.

[73] HRO International, led by British developer Howard Ronson, acquired an option in 1994 to buy the property from First Boston.

[83] These included column-less spaces for trading floors and workstations; high ceilings; and an electrical supply that was twice that of older buildings.

[86] In January 1996, First Boston signed a contract to sell the land to Bear Stearns, whose lease at 245 Park Avenue was expiring.

[81] The next month, the al-Babtain family announced it would be buying First Boston's stake,[53][86] taking full control of the site for $55 million.

[94] Cayne then sold the option on the air rights to the al-Babtains for a nominal fee, and the family stopped communicating with him.

[114] The crown was first illuminated on April 4, 2002, at a ceremony attended by Cayne, U.S. senator Chuck Schumer, and New York governor George Pataki.

[118] Due to security concerns following the attacks, Bear Stearns initially prohibited visitors from going to the upper floors unless they were accompanied by an employee.

[121][122][123] Real-estate experts estimated the building's value at $1.1 to $1.4 billion,[115] so 383 Madison Avenue would have been worth five times as much as Bear Stearns itself.

"[25] Herbert Muschamp of The New York Times, in describing SOM's work, said: "Skidmore specializes in period pastiche versions of Art Deco skyscrapers, like the new Bear, Stearns building in Midtown Manhattan.