Designed by architect James Barnes Baker, the four-story Beaux-Arts building was constructed between 1901 and 1902 as the first headquarters to be built specifically for the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York.

The structure is clad with Vermont marble and includes a rusticated masonry base, a short colonnade, and a copper mansard roof.

The facade formerly contained statues of John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and DeWitt Clinton, which had been designed by Daniel Chester French and Philip Martiny.

The second story contained the Chamber of Commerce's Great Hall, hung with portraits of important individuals from American history.

The architecture firm of Helmle and Corbett remodeled the interior and built a new floor in 1922, resulting in changes to the mansard roof.

The International Commercial Bank of China bought the building in 1989 and the interior was subsequently renovated by Haines Lundberg Waehler.

[9] The building was expanded in 1922 by Helmle & Corbett, while the interior design dates to a 1991 renovation by Haines Lundberg Waehler.

[10] The entrance to the building's ground floor is within a segmental arch in the second bay from the right; it is flanked by two full-height windows, one on each side.

[16] On the second floor, in the three rightmost bays facing Liberty Street, there is a small colonnade with six double-height fluted columns topped by Ionic-style capitals.

The Liberty Place facade contains similar oval windows at the top of the wall, although they are subdivided by flat pilasters.

[14][17] As designed, the main entrance opened into a large vestibule on the first (ground) floor, which in turn led to a double-height hall measuring 20 by 80 feet (6.1 by 24.4 m).

[10][18][24] The design of the stair was inspired by the Ducal Palace in Venice and led to the second-story main room and elevator hall.

[15] It had to be delivered in a custom crate, and part of the building's outer wall had to be temporarily removed so the carpet could be put inside.

The ceiling of the fourth-floor elevator landing had three octagonal allegorical reliefs depicting commerce, industry, and transportation.

[11][12] During the 1991 renovation, the third and fourth floors became executive offices for the International Commercial Bank of China, while the top story became a cafeteria.

After the chamber was granted a formal charter by King George III of Great Britain in 1770, it held an inaugural meeting at the Fraunces Tavern with twenty merchants in attendance.

[42] By the end of the 19th century, the Chamber of Commerce was looking to construct a building with enough space for offices and an assembly room.

According to Architectural Record magazine, the Chamber of Commerce wished for its assembly hall to be "spacious and imposing" and for the exterior to be "large enough to avoid insignificance".

[44][45] While the chamber's monthly meetings were lightly attended, the annual luncheons drew hundreds of members, even though the previous quarters could fit only fifty people.

Subscribers to the fund included Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt III, William Collins Whitney, and the Guggenheim family.

[15] The chamber's president Morris K. Jesup bought the Real Estate Exchange Building the next month from the Central Realty, Bond, and Trust Company,[42][52] at a cost of $700,000.

[57][58] During the first decade of the 20th century, the Lawyers' Title Insurance and Trust Company had offices in the Chamber of Commerce Building, with 700 employees.

As part of the project, the mansard roof was modified to accommodate a full story, which housed the chamber's library and two committee rooms.

[62] The sculptural groups on the facade, having worn down significantly due to chemical reactions and weather conditions, were removed in 1926.

[63][64] The Piccirilli Brothers made casts for the sculptural groups so they could be redone in granite or bronze if the chamber ever requested their reinstallation, although that never occurred.

[63] The same year, the Interstate Trust Company opened in the ground floor and basement[65] after alterations were made to these stories.

[36][75] Two years later, Haines Lundberg Waehler finished renovating the building into office space at a cost of more than $12 million.

Since the building was on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and was a New York City designated landmark, the bank hoped to receive a tax credit for the renovation.

[22] Among the criticisms was the fact that the colonnade was not genuine and served to "obscure the windows on the top floor", as well as the lack of natural lighting at ground level.

[27] Architectural historian Robert A. M. Stern, in his 1983 book New York 1900, compared the design of the exterior to the Paris Opéra House by Charles Garnier.