It is a 23-story aluminium and glass International Style skyscraper designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and constructed in 1962.

The base consists of a concrete-faced podium topped by a paved plaza, with the T-shaped office tower atop.

[5][citation needed] An anchor tenant, CSX Corporation, sold and vacated the property in the mid-1990s, leaving the tenancy rate low.

This prompted an auction for new ownership in which Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, its mortgage holder, bought One Charles Center in 1993 for $11.5 million.

After renovations, new tenants moved into the building, including the law offices of Peter Angelos as well as the firm Wright Constable & Skeen.