Inside is a cruciform banking hall with a 60-foot (18 m) vaulted ceiling, Corinthian columns, marble floors and walls, and an entablature around the interior.

Immediately outside the building's northwestern corner is an entrance to the Wall Street station on the New York City Subway's Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (served by the 2 and ​3 trains).

[24][25] The facade of the original structure featured twelve massive Ionic columns on Wall Street, each a single block of granite from Quincy, Massachusetts.

[17] The center of the frieze contained the inscription "Erected MDCCCXXXVIII" (1838 in Roman numerals) and was flanked by carved figures in classical robes.

[28] Above the center of the frieze was a sculpture of a woman holding a staff and accompanied by motifs of a cornucopia, an eagle, a globe with a branch, and a parcel.

[30][43] On each side are four Corinthian columns,[31] each measuring 41 feet (12 m) tall; these support an entablature that circles the space at two-thirds of the room's height.

[29][42] The southeastern corner of the first floor contained the six-room president's suite, which included the executive and secretary's offices, two conference rooms, a hall, and decorative restroom.

For officers who needed to remain at the building overnight, the eighth floor contained two bedrooms with a shared bathroom on the south side of the light court.

[50] Remnants of the building's usage by the United States Custom House included the jail cells used to detain smugglers and spies.

[26] Embedded in a wall was a cannonball, a keg of gunpowder, and over 100 rudimentary bombs that were believed to have been armaments for custom house employees during the New York City draft riots of 1863.

[58] In 1829, the Merchants' Exchange hired Robert Ball Hughes to sculpt a marble statue of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

[69] The building also housed other tenants, including the American Bank Note Company, who operated a currency printing plant in the penthouse between 1862 and 1867.

[76] William J. Fryer Jr., superintendent of repairs of New York City's federal-government buildings, wrote to the United States Department of the Treasury's Supervising Architect in February 1888 about the "old, damp, ill-lighted, badly ventilated" quarters at 55 Wall Street.

"[80] By the end of the century, the custom house's proximity to the Subtreasury was no longer advantageous, as it was easier to use a check or certificate to make payments on revenue than to pay with gold.

[94] Democrats in the House of Representatives criticized the transaction, saying Congress's decision to provide rent appropriations to the Customs Service was an "extravagant" use of money.

[25][85] Until early 1907, it was unclear whether City Bank would expand the building or replace it with an 18-to-20-story structure, so the firm was asked to prepare two sets of plans.

[94] Upon the completion of the renovation, National City Bank's law firm Shearman & Sterling had offices on the upper stories.

[23][37] According to Forbes magazine in 1917, the branch at 55 Wall Street "does more business in its head office than is done under any other nongovernmental banking roof on the face of the earth.

[26] Shortly afterward, in March 1958, City Bank Farmers Trust took over the construction of a skyscraper on 399 Park Avenue, which the Astor family had previously been developing.

By 1959, the bank had decided to relocate its national and international divisions, as well as administrative offices for its New York City branches, to Park Avenue while retaining its legal headquarters and some departments at 55 Wall Street.

[136] Pilevsky and his associates Jeffrey Gural and Barry Gosin, both of the Newmark Group, bought 55 Wall Street later that year for $49 million.

[137] Milgrim Thomajan & Lee, a large law firm based in Midtown Manhattan, agreed to lease 120,000 square feet (11,000 m2), becoming one of the building's major tenants in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The building was depicted in advertisements, like those for Cadillac and the mutual funds company PNC Inc., as well as in films such as Batman Forever and Die Hard with a Vengeance.

[22] Real estate developer Donald Trump offered to buy 55 Wall Street in 1996 for $20 million, which he stated was a bargain cost.

At the time, many tenants had left the building after their leases had expired, and an excess of vacant office space in Lower Manhattan had reduced property values in the area.

[139] Trump ultimately decided not to buy 55 Wall Street, and one of Credit Suisse First Boston's subsidiaries instead purchased the building for $21.15 million.

[140] In September 1997, the building was sold again to a group headed by restaurant-and-ballroom company Cipriani S.A., businessman Sidney Kimmel, and Hotel Jerome operator T. Richard Butera for $27 million.

[152][153] The buyers of the remaining condominiums included financiers;[154] two friends of Sarah, Duchess of York;[155] and soccer captain Claudio Reyna.

The author Peter James Hudson wrote that some critics praised Stillman for retaining the old structure rather than replacing it with a modern skyscraper.

[46] Stillman's immediate successor Frank A. Vanderlip had preferred such a tower because he predicted that National City Bank would quickly outgrow the space.