The 26-story River House was constructed in 1931 on the site of a former cigar factory and designed by William Lawrence Bottomley in the Art Deco style.

[6] Originally, the building featured a pier where residents could dock their yachts, but that amenity was lost with the construction of the FDR Drive.

[3] During the Great Depression, residents defaulted on mortgage interest payments and the court ruled the property could be sold as a foreclosure in 1941.

[9] Historically, the co-op board was notorious for turning away applicants who failed to meet strict liquidity requirements or those whose "comings and goings would attract unwelcome publicity to the River House".

[10] Other celebrities alleged to have been rejected by the board include Richard Nixon, Joan Crawford, Diane Keaton,[3][10] and in 2014, the French Ambassador to the United Nations, François Delattre.