The glass blocks, the first to be used on a building in New York City, were installed to provide insulation and privacy while also allowing illumination.

Nearby buildings include Turtle Bay Gardens to the east, as well as Amster Yard and the Morris B. Sanders Studio & Apartment to the north.

[2] Numerous masonry houses with brick or brownstone facades were developed in Turtle Bay starting in the 1860s.

These buildings usually occupied land lots that were at most 20 feet (6.1 m) wide and had classically inspired design features such as cornices and porticos.

[14] The Lescaze House was characterized by Ada Louise Huxtable in 1961 as "still extraordinarily contemporary after more than twenty-five years".

[15] Steve Dougherty, writing for The New York Times in 2002, stated that the "house puts the much more recent buildings nearby to shame".

[16] Architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern wrote that the use of glass blocks became "not only a trademark of his personal style but also a symbol of high-style Modernism throughout the 1930s".

[6] However, Lewis Mumford objected to the extension of the house into the rear yard, saying: "When architecture forgets the necessity of open spaces, it moves one step forward and two backward, no matter how 'modern' its design.

[25] The guest room at the front of the second floor had no air conditioning, so the glass block walls were fitted with two movable windows.

[29] The glass blocks served to reduce heat, provide privacy, and allow light to pass through.

[26][32][33] These furnishings included a dining room that contained metal-tube chairs with upholstery, a rosewood table, and walls with two hues of gray paint.

[39][35] The living room was originally entirely illuminated by indirect lighting[39] and contained a skylight at the center of its ceiling.

A fourth story was proposed to be added atop the living room, with a lounge in the front and a guest bedroom in the rear.

[28] Outside the dining room at the rear of the first story, is a patio with a short flight of stairs leading up to the annex's roof terrace.

[44] He received his diploma from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in 1919 and founded his business in New York City in 1923.

[45][46][47] Lescaze partnered with George Howe to design structures such as Philadelphia's PSFS Building, an early International Style skyscraper.

[49] In August 1933, William Lescaze submitted plans to the New York City Department of Buildings for a modification to the 19th-century brownstone at 211 East 48th Street.

[9][50] The four-story brownstone townhouse had been classified as a single-family home, but Lescaze proposed converting the basement to commercial use, retaining the first through third floors as a residence.

Lescaze resubmitted his plans for his house in December 1933 and, in an amendment the next month, clarified that the glass-block windows would enable ventilation and air-conditioning equipment to be installed.

The glass block tiles were delivered to the house but stayed on the sidewalk until the building department approved the revised plans in February 1934.

[9] The design of the Lescaze House inspired similar renovations to other structures in the neighborhood, including four townhouses on 49th Street in the 1930s and 1940s.

[25] The William Kaufman Organization acquired the Lescaze House and the adjacent property at 209 East 48th Street in 1985.

Although the glass blocks used in the windows were no longer being manufactured, the LPC insisted that any replacements be to the same specifications as the original design.

According to a spokesman for SageGroupAssociates (later Sage Realty), which leased property on behalf of the Kaufman Organization, a Pennsylvania studio had agreed to make replicas of the glass blocks.

[56] The following January, architecture firm Turett Collaborative submitted renovation plans for the Lescaze House to the LPC.

The company proposed repairing the exterior, consolidating mechanical equipment on the roof, and excavating the rear yard.