It also is situated at the south end of the tony Victorian-era residential townhouses and mansions of the neighborhood of Mount Vernon-Belvedere, centered by the landmark Washington Monument several blocks north, visible from the F. & D.'s front doors.

The building originally contained eight floors with a façade of grey granite, with a corner cupola tower and mansard roof.

It stood on the northwestern edge of the famous "burnt district" of the February 1904 Great Baltimore Fire which destroyed numerous downtown and waterfront buildings and skyscrapers up to across the street.

Following the initial reconstruction phase of 1905–1910, when several recently built downtown towers were burned out, but their steel skeletons and concrete foundations/floors and floors survived structurally sound and were rebuilt with new interiors and masonry facades.

Plans initially call for a mix of studio, one and two-bedroom units, from 500 to 2000 sq ft, with a restaurant with outdoor seating, and two-to-three retail shells for shops on the ground floor.