The "Black Rock" nickname is derived from the design of its facade, which consists of angled dark-gray granite piers alternating with dark-tinted glass.

The building initially served as the headquarters of CBS, which occupied all the above-ground space until the early 1990s, when it started leasing some stories to other tenants.

[10][13] CBS had acquired these structures in July 1960[10][14] from developer William Zeckendorf, who had been forced to sell the site to pay off increasing debts.

[25][26] CBS's design director Lou Dorfsman and president Frank Stanton worked with Knoll to arrange the art in the building.

[37] At the time of the building's construction, New York City planners were considering enacting the 1961 Zoning Resolution, which would allow skyscrapers to have a slab-like shape and additional floor area in exchange for the inclusion of ground-level open spaces.

[53] Each of the CBS Building's corners consists of two V-shaped piers, which appear as a massive load-bearing chamfer,[54] though this effect is purely aesthetic.

[19] To make the building appear imposing, Saarinen did not include a main entrance from Sixth Avenue in his design, because he did not want to modify the piers on that side.

[86] The architects installed vertical bronze batten walls on either side of each entrance, interspersed with the flat inner faces of the granite exterior piers.

[25][111] CBS executives used large dining tables to hold small meetings and do paperwork, though they also had smaller furniture with items such as TVs, radios, and personal documents.

[118] In July 1960, CBS announced that it had acquired a 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) site on Sixth Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd streets, from William Zeckendorf's company Webb and Knapp.

[120][121] CBS acquired an adjacent land lot on 53 West 52nd Street in July 1961, bringing its plot there to its final size of nearly 48,000 square feet (4,500 m2).

[122] CBS president Stanton wanted to hire Eero Saarinen & Associates for the project, having been impressed with the firm's design for the General Motors Technical Center in Michigan.

[12][125] Paley and Saarinen both wanted to erect a skyscraper that was distinct from International Style works such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Lever House and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building.

[126] Saarinen's biographer Jayne Merkel wrote that the architect particularly wanted to make "the best modern skyscraper anywhere", surpassing even the Seagram.

Saarinen, who had worked with city planning commissioner James Felt to resolve the project's zoning issues, wanted to add a sunken plaza with trees outside the CBS Building.

[78] In March 1961, Saarinen wrote to Paley that he had developed a solution: a freestanding slab bereft of setbacks, with a facade composed of triangular piers interspersed with windows.

[132] Following Saarinen's sudden death on September 1, 1961,[136] his associates, including Kevin Roche, Joseph N. Lacy, and John Dinkeloo, took over the CBS Building's design.

[143] The building's first tenant, a branch of the Bank of New York, signed a 21-year lease that August for a portion of the lobby and basement along Sixth Avenue.

[19] To give the facade piers a rough surface, the top layer of granite cladding was burned at 5,000 °F (2,760 °C) using a process called thermal stippling.

[149] Paul Goldberger wrote that the work "represents nothing less than an attempt to convert one of the great modern buildings in New York into an ordinary speculative office tower".

[165] By early 2001, Viacom had planned to buy 1515 Broadway (also known as One Astor Plaza), its own headquarters, in conjunction with its sale of the CBS Building.

[169] The law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe leased 220,000 square feet (20,000 m2) in the building in 2009, taking up some space that had been occupied by Swiss bank UBS.

Charles Schwab, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, and law firm Dorsey & Whitney retained space at the CBS Building during this time.

[188][189] At the time, 96.4 percent of the building's space was occupied, with seven tenants (including Nusr-Et and a newsstand) with a combined annual rent of about $33.8 million.

CBS's relocation, along with the upcoming expiration of two other tenants' leases, prompted lenders to express concern over whether HGI would be able to refinance a $420 million mortgage on the building.

[194] A writer for Architectural Forum summarized the CBS Building thus: "It has enormous unity; it has strength; the proportions of its windows are elegant; it has great dignity; and it even has color.

[8][197] Jayson Blair of The New York Times wrote in 2000: "Noted for its minimalist design and its somber, dark granite skin, Black Rock stands in stark contrast to the steel-and-glass towers nearby on the Avenue of the Americas.

"[41][202] She wrote in 1984 that the CBS Building's design "created deliberate, dark ambiguities at a time when architecture was supposed to be rational and open".

[199] The author Antonio Román stated in 2003 that the building's "internal and external consistency perfectly conveyed Saarinen's vision for the tower".

[205] A writer for Progressive Architecture doubted whether the CBS Building's ground story "can ever be a suitable, psychologically acceptable atmosphere for pleasant dining".