Starting in the 1870s, the area surrounding Union Square Park became populated with hotels, theaters, and commercial enterprises.

[5][9] The 1893 King's Handbook to New York City described it as a "flourishing outgrowth of the movement of business" further uptown.

[6] In 1879, a nighttime guard went to a saloon to drink, leaving the bank without any protection, though no burglaries were reported during that time.

[10] A man was caught depositing forged bonds at the bank during the early 1880s,[11] and a thief was arrested in 1889 after robbing a client who had just made a withdrawal.

[14] By the beginning of the 20th century, the bank's board of directors included Louis Comfort Tiffany and businessman Charles Scribner II.

[15] The Bank of the Metropolis bought the plot at the corner of 16th Street and Union Square West.

Pitman's Journal of Commercial Education, one of the building's first tenants, praised the amenities and its proximity to the New York City Subway's 14th Street–Union Square station, which at the time was under construction.

[25] The building remained relatively unchanged until 1975, when developer David Teitelbaum was granted a zoning variance to turn the upper-floor offices into 145 residences.

[27] By 1979, the residential conversion had been completed: most of the building was used as artists' lofts, while four floors were being used as dormitory space for the Parsons School of Design.

[28]In 1980 the former banking room at the ground floor became a club called Zippers, under the direction of Lynn Barclay.

Price was particularly attached to designing skyscrapers in three parts, mirroring the structure of classical columns, and the building reflects this base-shaft-capital concept.

[33][18] The 32.5-foot-wide section on Union Square West exists because the owner of the Decker Building could not sell the corner lot along 16th Street.

[32] A journal article in 1916 said of prominent corner-lot bank locations that "the advantage [...] is generally appreciated",[36] an observation that was made in the Landmarks Preservation Commission's report about the building.

[37][40] On both the south and east facades, the third story contains square-framed windows and projecting courses at the top and bottom.

The fourth through 12th stories make up the "tower" section of the bank building, and are relatively flat, except for spandrels between each floor, which are embellished with lions.

[40][37] At the time of the building's opening in 1903, it included a steam heating system, electrically powered lights, mail chutes, telephone lines, and elevators.

[42] Architectural writer Paul Goldberger called Price's design for the bank building "a lovely eclectic creation", praising its Ionic portico, narrow shaft, and "enormous, elaborate" cornice.