[2] Designed by Welton Becket & Associates and developed by London & Leeds as an office building, 75 Wall Street was announced in 1984 as the North American headquarters of British bank Barclays.

JPMorgan Chase acquired 75 Wall Street from Barclays in 2005, and the Hakimian Organization and Peykar Brothers Realty purchased the building later that year.

[3][4] The building, developed by British firm London & Leeds, was the first to be erected directly on Wall Street in fifteen years.

[4] Barclays would occupy 300,000 sq ft (28,000 m2) as part of its headquarters and sublet the remainder of the space,[6] consolidating employees from several other locations in Manhattan.

The Christian Science Monitor wrote that the lobby was filled with scaffolding, and "a vacant elevator shaft and artless walls further attest that Barclays Bank's new granite-and-brass North American headquarters is not nearly complete.

Additionally, Barclays decided to involve itself in wholesale business and capital markets rather than expand its American operations, as had been the bank's intention when 75 Wall Street was completed.

[14] News service Knight Ridder occupied up to 115,000 sq ft (10,700 m2) in the building[15] before moving to the World Financial Center in 1996.

[16] Dresdner Bank leased 186,000 sq ft (17,300 m2) of space in 1994[17] and opened a fixed-income trading floor at 75 Wall Street the next year.

[23] The Hakimian Organization and Peykar Brothers Realty purchased 75 Wall Street from JPMorgan Chase for $185 million in December 2005.

[26] Hakimian said 75 Wall Street's small floor plates and tall ceilings made the building seem "as if it was built to be converted".

[29] Over three years, the Hakimian Organization converted 75 Wall Street into a mixed-use structure with condominiums on its upper floors and a hotel below.

[32] Interior designer David Rockwell, one of the architects involved in the project, included a private screening room in the condo section of the building.