[note 1] The Lafayette wing, spanning the south side of the block, is the longest and tallest, incorporating an entrance at the base of a nine-story tower.

Prior to the American Bank Note Company purchasing the property, the land on which the printing plant was built had been part of Edward G. Faile's estate.

The facility was used by American Bank Note until about 1984 after which the property has changed hands several times, undergone a series of renovations, and been designated a New York City landmark.

As of 2024[update], it has been subdivided, with major tenants including the John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy Charter School and the New York City Human Resources Administration.

[5] In September 1908, a portion of the estate comprising "over 400 lots" was acquired by the George F. Johnson's Sons Company, a real-estate developer building two-family houses in the Bronx.

[8]: 11 The American Bank Note Company was formed on April 29, 1858, when seven large engraving firms (Toppan, Carpenter & Co.; Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson; Danforth, Perkins & Co.; Jocelyn, Draper, Welch & Co.; Wellstood, Hay & Whitney; Bald, Cousland & Co.; and John E. Gavit) merged.

[9] The combined company's first printing plant was at Wall and William Streets, Manhattan, in a building which would later become the United States Custom House and eventually National City Bank.

[8]: 3  This initial design included a long wing[note 1] running the length of the Lafayette Avenue frontage, where the engraving and lithographing departments would be housed.

[16]: 41 The New York Times wrote in 1992 that the site had an "unabashedly industrial look"[19] and noted that Architecture & Building Magazine had referred to its "arsenal-like appearance with a pervading sense of strength and security".

[19] The site included 200 presses, a private restaurant, hospital, laundry, machine and carpenter shops, and laboratories where special inks were formulated.

[8]: 6–7  The use of round arches and recessed brick spandrels were common in New York City industrial architecture of the late 19th century, evoking the German Rundbogenstil style of the 1830s and 1840s.

The presses were on the upper floor; the saw-tooth roof incorporated many windows to supply natural illumination for inspecting plates and printed documents.

[8]: 4  The saw-tooth roof design had long been used in England because it admitted glare-free light through its north-facing windows but had been avoided in North America due to concerns about supporting snow loads, leakage, and condensation.

[8]: 11, footnote 20 The area to the west of the press building, along Tiffany Street and Garrison Avenue, originally had manicured lawns, a curved driveway, and a pedestrian walk flanked by lampposts.

[20] In 1912, architect H. W. Butts added a single-story addition along the Barretto Street side of the property to hold a laundry and pulp mill,[8]: 4  estimated to cost $12,000 ($380,000 in 2023).

[19] Although the plant printed money for 115 countries around the world, it was best known for producing currencies for Latin America, including Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Haiti, and Cuba.

Printed materials were first wrapped in paper, then encased in metal containers which were sealed with solder to make them waterproof, then inserted into the tightly fitting custom boxes.

[25]: 304 The company employed, according to New York Times columnist Meyer Berger, the world's most skilled engravers who served apprenticeships of ten years or longer.

[25]: 304  In 1963, there were 33 engravers on staff; they employed a house style favoring "folded robes, bare-chested men, and half-naked women who seem to be a cross between a Wagnerian soprano and the White Rock nymph."

[33] In 1997, the John V. Lindsay Wildcat Academy Charter School opened their Hunts Point campus in the complex, occupying the fourth through sixth floors[note 3] of the Lafayette wing.

[36][37] The campus, which serves ninth and tenth grade students, includes the school's culinary internship program, the student-run JVL Wildcat Café and a hydroponics garden.

[34][43][44] An anchor tenant with a long-term low-rent lease, they attracted other artists, who occupied spaces ranging from 600 square foot (56 m2) studios to entire floors.

[32] In 2002, Lady Pink organized a group of female graffiti artists to paint an anti-war mural on a brick wall on the Barretto Street side of the property.

He noted that the building housed the Sunshine Business Incubator which had "helped over 70 small companies take root through shared space and creative partnerships" as part of the "New Bronx".

[52][53] In 2013, the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance left the building when Taconic Investment Partners refused to extend their lease at the current rate, instead offering a one-year extension at double the rent.

[54] The New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) signed a 20-year lease in 2013, intending to move into approximately half of the 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) available space in the complex.

Bronx Community Board 2 was also opposed to the move with district manager Rafael Salamanca noting concerns over police presence and street lighting.

"[17] A commemorative plaque installed in the Lafayette Avenue entrance lobby calls out the "crenellated tower", "massive brick piers", and "saw-tooth skylights" as significant architectural details.

[57] Landmarks Commission Chairman Robert B. Tierney was quoted in the official announcement as saying:[17] The plant is notable not only for its commanding presence in the neighborhood and from other vantage points in the Bronx, but also for the sweep of multistory arcades across the front façade and its nine-story medieval-style tower.The announcement also cited "monumental arcades", the "Gothic-inspired details", and the "crenellated parapet of the central tower" as significant architectural features.

The austere and huge horizontal massing of the main part of the printing facility and the Gothic tower, which emphasizes the symmetry of the main façade on Lafayette Avenue, create an arsenal-like appearance and contribute to create sense of security that is closely associated with its line of business.The building is adjacent to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad tracks (now the Hell Gate Line of the Northeast Corridor).