The building at 655 Park Avenue was designed by architects James Edwin Ruthven Carpenter, Jr., often referred to by the initials "J.E.R.

Carpenter is considered the leading architect for luxury residential high-rise buildings in New York City in the early 1900s, while Schmidt is known for his buildings in the American Georgian Classical style, including Sutton Place and houses for New York City's society figures and business elite.

The building is centered around a courtyard garden facing Park Avenue.

[2] The building's staggered height design, perhaps unique among Park Avenue co-ops of its era, was a result of restrictions placed on the developer by a syndicate of owners of nearby mansions who sold the land on which 655 Park Avenue was built.

[3] This "Battle for Suitable Scale at 655 Avenue" is described in Andrew Alpern's book Historic Manhattan Apartment Houses.