It was designed by Kimball & Thompson in the Classical Revival style and built by Marc Eidlitz & Son from 1897 to 1898.

The Empire Building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

Though the politician and real estate developer Orlando B. Potter had acquired the brownstone in 1884, he died prior to the current building's construction.

[3] Because of modifications made to the building after its completion, some portions of the Broadway entrance cross over the lot line.

The offices were arranged so that they faced north toward Trinity Church, while utility rooms and elevators are located on the southern portion of the building.

[17] The original design called for architectural terracotta sheathing, but the Potter family, which developed the Empire Building, switched to granite because they felt the material was "more suitable".

[20][21] The entrance originally consisted of three pairs of doors, leading to a portico with a barrel vault; it was modified by Walker & Gillette in 1937–1938 in the Art Deco style.

[20] At the first story, there was formerly an entrance to the Sixth Avenue elevated, which was closed in 1938 and replaced by a steel surround designed by Walker & Gillette.

Atop the south side of the 21st floor is a small terracotta tower that holds the machine rooms for the elevators.

[21] Contractor Charles Sooysmith designed the foundation, which was a mix of grillage and 23 pneumatic concrete caissons that went 23 feet (7.0 m) down to bedrock.

[24][25] The narrowness of the lot resulted in the inclusion of an extensive system of steel skeleton framing and bracing.

[30] Though the interior has been extensively remodeled, the Empire Building still contains one of its original staircases on the western side.

The staircase has an iron railing, which contains decorative motifs featuring dolphins and Neptune's scepter, as well as marble treads.

[31] The building was originally equipped with 10 hydraulic elevators manufactured by Otis Worldwide, which were grouped in two banks of five.

[32][33] These safety features were included because of a series of elevator accidents that had taken place at nearby 150 Nassau Street.

[35][36] In 1837, Grace Church sold the land, and eight years later, merchant Michael Simpson bought the plot.

[37] The latter name was given because there was a public arcade extending adjacent to the building, connecting Broadway to the former Sixth Avenue elevated's Rector Street station.

[5] The brownstone was bombed in 1891 as part of an extortion attempt directed toward politician Russell Sage, killing four people including the bomber.

[35][18] During the excavation, a cornerstone from the old Grace Church was found at the building site,[43] as well as bones and numerous tombstones.

[46] It was among the first of several high-rise buildings that were erected on the southernmost section of Broadway starting in the late 1890s as well as one of the city's oldest steel-frame skyscrapers on pneumatic caissons.

[52] On April 23, 1919, the U.S. Steel Corporation bought the building from the Potter trust for approximately $5 million in cash.

[3][47][53] At the time, the sale was reported to be one of the largest transactions ever conducted for a private property in New York City.

[47] One of the later commercial tenants at the Empire Building was advertising agency AFGL International Inc., which moved out during 1994.

[59] The Empire Building was converted to 237 apartments in 1997 by World-Wide Group of Manhattan, which had purchased the foreclosed property for approximately $10 million.

[61] The residential units were quickly occupied:[30] One of the residents of 71 Broadway was the politician and economist Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was placed under house arrest in the building in 2011 during the criminal lawsuit filed against him, after another apartment building on the Upper East Side declined to host him.

[62][63] During Strauss-Kahn's house arrest, the Empire Building received extensive attention from the media and from passersby on Broadway, and it was dubbed "a new tourist hot spot".

[67] According to Schuyler, the building's value was increased by the fact that the entirety of the Rector Street facade could be seen because of the churchyard's presence.