Built between 1897 and 1899 in the Chicago School style, it was the only building in New York City designed by architect Louis Sullivan, who worked on the project alongside Lyndon P. Smith.

On the inside, the first two stories are used for retail, while the upper floors generally contain large loft-like spaces and a steel structural frame.

Due to disputes over construction methods, United Loan was forced to give up the building before it was completed, and Emmeline G. H. Condict had acquired it by June 1899.

[7] With the advent of curtain walls, steel frames, and fireproof elevators, these store and loft buildings were being built as tall as 12 stories by the 1890s.

[8] The Bayard–Condict Building is the only structure in New York City designed by Louis H. Sullivan, who specialized in the Chicago school style of architecture.

[22][23] The Bleecker Street facade is divided horizontally into three sections—an ornamented base, a shaft of identical stacked floors, and a decorated crown—illustrating Sullivan's views on skyscraper design.

[21][25] According to Herbert Muschamp, the emphasis of the vertical elements may have been intended to represent "maximum development of a small urban site by thrusting against gravitational force".

[23][26] The doorway is flanked by piers, above which are a small cornice and an ornamented lunette with "organic" motifs such as spirals, leaves and tendrils.

[26] The base of the building originally contained storefronts separated by octagonal columns, above which were ornate capitals[27] that also depicted leaves.

[23][20] For many years, it was widely believed that Silas Alden Condict, a lawyer with religious aspirations who had briefly owned the building, had wanted the angels to be included.

"[31] This account is disputed by historians Sarah Landau and Carl W. Condit, who wrote in their 1996 book Rise of the New York Skyscraper that Sullivan had used winged-angel motifs in his design for the Transportation Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

[23] According to the Architectural Review, the Bayard–Condict Building was a speculative development "designed to be used for offices or light manufactures as to the upper storeys, and for shops in the ground and first floors".

[32] When the Bayard–Condict Building was built, it generally contained large loft-like spaces, as well as a mechanical core with elevators, utilities, and stairs.

The lofts could be divided into smaller offices and were illuminated by natural light, which was maximized by the presence of setbacks at the rear of the building.

The interior would have been supported by a type of freestanding steel frame called the Gray system, which used 14-by-14-inch (360 by 360 mm) columns attached to cast-steel bases.

[35] The United Loan and Investment Company had been incorporated in 1895 to sell securities, land, and mortgages for a commission; it was authorized to trade real estate in 1897.

[34] The edifice was to be named after the Bayard family, an early settler of the colony of New Netherland, whose area included modern-day New York.

[14][37] Although the family was not involved with the project,[14] Landau and Condit wrote that the structure directly referenced William Bayard Jr., the Bank for Savings' first president.

[42] In April 1899, Charles W. Rice of the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company acquired the building at a foreclosure auction for $327,000,[35][43] wiping out United Loan's investment in the structure.

[19] The tenth floor was severely damaged in a fire in March 1900,[46][47] and the Condict family sold the building that May to its builder, Charles T.

[56] The Shulsky family immediately sued the LPC, claiming that "the vast majority of the population in the City of New York and the United States of America have no knowledge whatsoever" of the building's existence, but the lawsuit stalled.

[27] Subsequently, the Shulsky family renovated the lobby to designs by Edgar Tafel, whose mentor Frank Lloyd Wright had studied under Sullivan.

[51] In 1996, New York City-based architecture and engineering firm Wank Adams Slavin Associates designed and oversaw a restoration of the Bayard–Condict Building's facade.

[27] By then, the building was nearly fully occupied by tenants such as the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Carl Fischer Music, the literary agency of Sterling Lord, cosmetics firm The Estée Lauder Companies, and USA Films.

[51] During the early 21st century, the building's tenants included the Council of Fashion Designers of America,[63] a law firm,[64] and an ice cream shop.

[65] When the Bayard–Condict Building was completed, it was a radical design for its time, since it contravened the strictures of American Renaissance architecture which were the accepted status quo.

[4] Russell Sturgis said the structure "exemplifies the growth of modern American building connected with the steel cage construction", saying that the design was clearly intended to be that of a skyscraper.

"[66][67] A reporter for The Wall Street Journal wrote that, following the building's completion, the public saw Louis Sullivan "as the architect who had solved the problem of what to do with the skyscraper".

[69] In his 1994 book New York, a Guide to the Metropolis, Gerard Wolfe wrote that the Bayard–Condict Building was a "startlingly ornate" structure that was tucked onto a side street.

According to Herbert Muschamp in 2001, the building "stands as a reminder that private clients, including developers, were once more eager than the cultural organizations to embrace progressive ideals".