The facade is made of blue-green terracotta ceramic tile panels alternating with green metal-framed windows, with a strongly horizontal orientation.

[1] The New York City Subway's 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal station and Eleven Times Square are on Eighth Avenue, less than one block east.

[14][18][19] As Architectural Forum magazine said: "The requirements peculiar to a publishing business have formed the basis for the entire structure—in plan, section, and elevation.

"[14][20] In an issue of the McGraw-Hill News in 1931, Hood wrote that "Economy and good working conditions were the three factors uppermost in mind" during the building's planning.

[26] The lack of setbacks on the western and eastern elevations made the building stand out as an industrial structure, even in the low-rise Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.

[23][31] Unlike Art Deco structures of the past, 330 West 42nd Street relied on color as a primary means of ornament.

[17] At ground level on 42nd Street, the building contains what were originally a pair of three-bay-wide glass storefronts, which were initially used by McGraw-Hill's bookstore and a bank.

The curved walls between the storefront and the recessed entrance contain gold- and silver-colored metal bands, alternating with dark-green and light-blue panels.

[44] At the time of 330 West 42nd Street's construction, terracotta was not commonly used in International Style structures, which frequently contained glass, steel, and concrete instead.

[17] In designing the building, Hood considered several colors for the terracotta panels, including "Chinese red", orange, yellow, and gray.

[32][42] The windows are grouped into sets of three or four, separated horizontally by dark metal spandrel panels, and were built to the maximum height allowed under city construction codes of the time.

[64] The upper stories were designed in a relatively simple style, characterized by Architecture Plus magazine as "Raymond Hood Colonial".

[34] Six weeks later, the McGraw-Hill Book Company relocated from its longtime headquarters at 370 Seventh Avenue to the new building at 330 West 42nd Street.

[107][108] In the mid-1950s, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey started training "spotters" to look at traffic on the Lincoln Tunnel approaches from the 35th floor of the McGraw-Hill Building.

[114] McGraw-Hill then announced its intention to develop additional stories atop the Port Authority Bus Terminal annex, being built immediately to the east, but the plan did not come to fruition.

[19] Despite the relatively low price, 330 West 42nd Street stood vacant for three years, during which only a maintenance crew of ten workers was staffed in the building.

[19] The vacancy was attributed to developers' reluctance to take space on West 42nd Street, which The New York Times described as "tawdry", and the fact that the neighborhood was becoming more decrepit.

[127] The new owners commenced a $2 million rehabilitation of the building; to reduce vacancies, Newmark president Jeffrey Gural rented space to any tenants who could reliably pay.

[128] The lobby was renovated by architects Warner Burns Toan & Lunde and interior designers Valerian Rybar and Jean-Francois Daigre.

[135] The same year, Deco Towers Associates, a foreign investment group, acquired 330 West 42nd Street as its sole property.

[63][136] The sale had become complicated by the fact that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation had taken over the building's mortgage holder, the American Savings Bank, which had gone bankrupt.

[138] Shortly after the project began, Deco Towers dismantled Boomerang, having found severe deterioration in that sculpture during inspections over the previous five years.

[139] The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) moved to a 13,000-square-foot (1,200 m2) space at 330 West 42nd Street in 1998, having been forced to relocate from 2 Columbus Circle.

[145] That February, the LPC approved a plan by Moed de Armas and Shannon Architects (MdeAS) to renovate part of the building.

[16] MdeAS also proposed gutting the streamlined lobby as part of a series of changes to reconfigure the lower floors, formerly occupied by SEIU, for office use.

[144][145] A plan to remove the mcgraw-hill sign atop the crown, replacing it with one spelling out the building's address, was rejected by the LPC after opposition from preservationists.

[58] According to Gerard Nocera of Resolution Real Estate (the asset manager for Deco Towers), the LPC had rejected three requests to preserve the lobby during the preceding decades.

[60][146] The $120 million renovation included adding amenities such as outdoor terraces, event rooms, and a fitness center; refurbishing the office floors into an open plan; reconfiguring the lobby; and installing windows and air filters.

[155] Blackstone and Rialto Capital Management began foreclosing on the building's loan in July 2024;[155][156] the conversion of the upper floors was still in progress.

[19][169] When GHI bought the building, an opinion writer for The New York Times celebrated the fact that the "distinctive green giant" would be preserved, even though it was not yet an official landmark.