The Municipal Asphalt Plant's post-modernist design was intended to fit the residential character of the surrounding neighborhood while also being industrial.

[3] It was designed by Ely Jacques Kahn and Robert Allan Jacobs and built between 1941 and 1944 for Stanley M. Isaacs, the Manhattan borough president of the time.

[3][4] Built under the supervision of public works commissioner Walker D. Binger,[5][6] the plant was one of the first projects designed by the firm of Kahn and Jacobs.

[4][6] Although the plant diverged considerably from Kahn's earlier designs, he influenced other aspects of the building, such as the use of cast-in-place concrete and prefabricated materials.

[13][14] The mixing plant was the first parabolic-arched building in the United States to use reinforced concrete,[4] a cheaper alternative to steel that had been experimented with in Europe, but not used to any great effect.

[16][17] Originally, the roofs of the mixing plant and the conveyor belt were supposed to be made of Monel metal, but this was postponed because of material shortages during World War II.

[20] The conveyor belt carried materials from the East River shoreline under FDR Drive, then traveled diagonally above ground to the storage facility.

[22] The storage building included large containers for storing raw materials, as well as catwalks and conveyor belts on an upper level, which were illuminated by ribbon windows.

[42][43] The tunnel was completed by mid-1940; at the time, the Manhattan borough president's office had also installed pipes for asphalt concrete, as well as conveyor belts for sand and stone.

[62][63] Opponents of the plan formed the Neighborhood Committee of the Asphalt Project, led by local doctor George Murphy, in April 1972.

[61][64] The committee did not object to the low-income component of the project, but it asked the city to build a recreational facility on the site of the middle-income towers.

[65] The Neighborhood Committee asked the New York City Board of Estimate to rezone the site for recreational use, soliciting the support of 80 percent of nearby buildings' owners.

[64] Murphy and his wife Annette circulated a petition to rezone the site, and they organized large groups, which advocated for a recreation center at Planning Commission hearings.

[61] Several hundred opponents held a protest outside New York City Hall in November 1972,[65][66] and the Board of Estimate narrowly vetoed the original plan for the site that December.

[59] The next year, the fund proposed a revised plan with 671 luxury apartments, 288 affordable housing units, and an elementary school for 875 students.

[67] Local politicians almost unanimously supported the redevelopment project, except for then-City Council president Sanford Garelik, who endorsed the committee's alternate proposal.

[69][70] Due to continued opposition from residents, the Educational Construction Fund officially canceled plans for the Municipal Asphalt Plant development in August 1974.

[76] After Asphalt Green opened, the Heckscher and Vincent Astor foundations continued to fund the recreation center, and other organizations also provided monetary support.

[74] After Chase Manhattan Bank gave Asphalt Green a $3,000 grant in September 1975, supporters held a fundraiser for a further renovation of the site.

[77] Architectural firm HOK (the successor to Kahn and Jacobs), in collaboration with Giovanni Pasanella and Arvid Klein, were hired to design the renovation.

[6][25] In early 1976, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation offered a $50,000 matching grant for the proposed renovation of the mixing plant, which was still structurally sound but had degraded over time.

[84] In 1980, Asphalt Green received $92,000 from the NYSERDA and $82,000 from the Vincent Astor Foundation to fund the establishment of an educational center devoted to energy conservation.

[81] The remaining cost was ultimately funded by two developers, who agreed to collectively donate $1.1 million for improvements to the Upper East Side.

[19][90] The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation formally licensed Asphalt Green's operators to use Mill Rock in early 1986.

[93] The Board of Estimate gave Asphalt Green a $4 million grant in August 1990 to help fund the swimming center's construction.

[97] The complex also continued to host other sports such as football, soccer, softball, and baseball, as well as programs such as martial arts, Pilates, and yoga.

[99] Meanwhile, the neighboring DSNY waste transfer station had closed in 1999 and city officials proposed reopening it in 2006,[41] though local residents opposed this plan for several years.

[100] The reopening proceeded and City officials announced in late 2014 that Asphalt Green would have to be closed temporarily while an access ramp to the waste transfer station, bisecting the complex at 91st Street, was built.

[11][12] MoMA curator Elizabeth Bauer Mock lauded the plant, saying that it created an "exciting experience for motorists on the adjacent super-highway".

"[21] Architectural Forum attributed the building's "chopped off and incomplete" appearance to the fact that, at the time of the plant's completion, concrete arches had only been used for structures such as drill halls, auditoriums, and hangars.