Part of an area once known as "Charity Row", the building was designed by Robert W. Gibson and Edward J. Neville Stent, with a steel structure and medieval-inspired facade.

[6] The rectangular land lot is on the southeast corner of 22nd Street and Park Avenue South, covering approximately 5,600 square feet (520 m2).

[9] Many of the surrounding buildings are commercial loft structures similar in design to Church Missions House.

[8] During the late 19th and 20th centuries, Church Missions House was part of "Charity Row", a three-block area around Park Avenue and 22nd Street with the headquarters of charitable institutions.

[10][11] When Church Missions House was built, the United Charities Building, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and the Bank for Savings were all being developed on nearby sites.

[12][13] The six-story building was designed by Robert W. Gibson and Edward J. Neville Stent for the Episcopal Church's Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.

[19] According to the AIA Guide to New York City, the Medieval-inspired facade was "equal to buildings of the Flemish and Dutch Renaissance.

[22][23] Church Missions House has several features that were used in the early skyscrapers of New York City during the late 19th century.

[24][25] The building has a self-supporting steel superstructure filled with brick,[18] and it had an elevator and architectural terracotta fireproofing from the outset.

[24] It predated the American Surety Building, the first skyscraper in New York City with a superstructure made entirely of steel,[26][27] by two years.

[32][33] The space also contains a mural by Dean Barger, brass chandeliers, wood doorways and floors, and mohair chairs.

[23] When the building was renovated for Fotografiska New York, some low-height ceilings were removed and the original steel beams were revealed.

[2] The Society had rented office space at 281 Broadway near Chambers Street by 1840,[2][38] and the committees both had several headquarters during the next decade and a half.

Upon his return to the United States, he wrote to the Society's Board of Managers that a church missions headquarters was needed.

[43] In October 1888, a bishop, two presbyters, and six laymen were appointed to a committee to select the site and raise money through subscriptions.

[47] Early the following year, the Society bought an adjacent lot from the ASPCA, directly at the corner of Fourth Avenue and 22nd Street.

[61] Church Missions House also hosted meetings of the city's Episcopal clergy,[62] as well as elections of bishops.

[67] That year, it was tasked with studying the feasibility of relocating the Episcopal offices from Church Missions House to Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States.

[73] Episcopalians across the United States nicknamed Church Missions House "281", for its address number, whenever they talked about the Episcopal headquarters in the building.

In 1947, it purchased the Herbert L. Satterlee estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, for a lodging center and presiding bishop's residence, though the Episcopal offices continued to be in Church Missions House.

[81] George C. Textor, the president of the Marine Midland Trust Company, held a fundraising drive to cover the cost of purchase and renovation.

As part of the project, the exterior was cleaned, the original interior details were restored, and the building was upgraded with modern elevators and mechanical systems.

[82] Church Missions House reopened in December 1963 as the FPWA's first permanent headquarters; the organization had previously occupied rented space.

[16][89] The New York Landmarks Conservancy granted its Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award in 1994 to Kapell & Kostow for their renovation of Church Missions House.

[90] By 2014, Church Missions House was for sale; at the time, it was the only remaining building in Charity Row that was still used by a nonprofit.

[93] Rosen was acquiring several other structures across Manhattan at the time, saying that his firm was seeking "properties that are unique, with beautiful architecture".

[95] The joint venture of RFR Holding and HQ Capital Real Estate LP finalized their purchase in January 2015.

[101] The same year, Jan Broman, cofounder of Swedish photography museum Fotografiska, decided to lease the building after his wife had pointed it out during a taxicab ride.

Broman was looking to expand the museum to New York City, and he contacted the building's leasing agent the day after his taxicab ride.

[112] The building's popularity increased in the early 2020s after Netflix released Inventing Anna, a drama miniseries about Sorokin.