Among the facade's details are vertical piers with four medallions containing busts of printers: Benjamin Franklin, William Caxton, Johann Gutenberg, and Aldus Manutius.

[3] 597 Fifth Avenue was designed by Ernest Flagg in the Beaux Arts style for the company Charles Scribner's Sons.

[5] It is similar in appearance to the predecessor Scribner's bookstore at 155 Fifth Avenue, which Flagg also designed; both structures have symmetrical limestone facades divided horizontally into multiple sections.

It has a centrally positioned double door, atop which is a broken pediment with the Scribner bookstore's logo at the center.

The window in the center is a broad elliptical arch flanked by fluted columns, with decorative spiral ornament in the corner spandrels.

[15] The piers at the fourth story contain medallions with cartouches of the printers Benjamin Franklin, William Caxton, Johann Gutenberg, and Aldus Manutius.

A cornice with console brackets runs above the ninth story, topped by a parapet and a copper-edged mansard roof.

[22] As designed, the Scribner's bookstore was placed within what is now the ground-story and second-story retail space, and the business, editorial, and financial departments occupied four stories above.

[16] At the eastern end of the ground-story retail space is a central staircase that leads up to a mezzanine display area.

[37] By January 1911, Ernest Flagg had written in his diary that Charles Scribner II had discussed the possibility of constructing a new quarters along Fifth Avenue.

[25] In February 1912, Charles Scribner's Sons bought the houses at 597 and 599 Fifth Avenue, near 48th Street, from the estates of Sarah M. and Roswell P. Flower, with the intention of constructing a 10-story structure there for retail and offices.

[44] In addition to the bookstore and offices at 597 Fifth Avenue, Scribner's had a building at 311–319 West 43rd Street for its printing press.

Visitors included the authors F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe, who met with their editors on the upper stories, as well as Theodore Roosevelt, who was an early shopper.

[11][48] The editors working at the building included Maxwell Perkins, whose fifth-floor office was the site of a fight between Hemingway and Max Eastman over who had more chest hair.

[7][8][63] By December 1988, Scribner's leadership announced the building's bookstore would close the next month because of the excessive costs of continuing to operate the store.

At the time, the president of Rizzoli's American companies said the retail space, a "cathedral in honor of bookselling", was no longer efficient for commercial use.

[49] On the last day of the bookstore's operation, Leonard Riggio, executive chairman of B. Dalton and Barnes & Noble, intervened to try to keep the store open.

[63] After B. Dalton acquired the Scribner's brand in May 1989, Riggio started negotiating with Benetton to discuss the possibility of reopening a bookstore branch in the building.

Benetton executives, who were planning a renovation of the retail space, said they would not oppose such a designation; an attorney for the company said they were "used to landmarks".

[63][74] After Brentano's departure, Benetton hired Phillips Janson Group to conduct interior restorations for several million dollars.

[11][75] Restoration architect Dennis Janson took two months to research the building's history, while decorative art firm Terra Firma was hired to look at paint samples to determine the original color.

[75] The restoration uncovered several decorative elements that had previously been hidden, including the rear skylight and glass planks.

[11] Monica Geran of Interior Design magazine called the reopening of the skylight a "crowning glory" of the renovation.

[27][79] Meanwhile, to attract office tenants, Benetton gave free Prince tennis bags to brokers who successfully leased space in the building.

[83] Thor refinanced the building in 2014,[84][85] receiving a $105 million loan for 597 Fifth Avenue and the neighboring 3 East 48th Street from UBS Group AG.

During the city's 2013 mayoral election, Anthony Weiner opened a campaign office on the upper stories of 597 Fifth Avenue.

[86] Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, had its New York office at 597 Fifth Avenue between 2016 and the company's collapse in 2018.

[100] LNR Partners initiated pre-foreclosure proceedings against 597 Fifth Avenue and 3 East 48th Street in early 2023, requesting that a court auction off both structures.

[100] Club Monaco, the building's only remaining tenant, renewed its lease for seven years in May 2024,[103] and a state judge approved a foreclosure sale of 597 Fifth Avenue and 3 East 48th Street that August.

[104] JLL, the court-appointed property manager, alleged in December 2024 that the roof was leaking; making it difficult to lease out the upper floors.