Designed by architect César Pelli,[1] with Adamson Associates, the World Financial Center complex was built by Olympia and York from 1983 to 1988[2] on the landfill used to build Battery Park City.

Preliminary plans called for the demolition of the Grand Staircase, which was the main focal entry point to Winter Garden and the waterfront, as it connected to the Vesey Street pedestrian bridge adjacent to the original World Trade Center.

With some restaurants and retail temporarily closed due to construction, a food truck court was in operation beginning in early 2012 on North End Avenue.

[12] Brookfield Properties bought the adjacent One North End Avenue building, headquarters of the New York Mercantile Exchange, in 2013, for US$200 million, and integrated it into the complex.

[19] The Winter Garden Atrium is a 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2) glass domed pavilion housing various plants, trees and flowers, also shopping areas, cafes (located between buildings 2 and 3), rebuilt 2002 after terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

The pavilion also exhibits a range of contemporary artists including Reyna Noriega,[20] Julia Whitney Barnes, Tatiana Arocha, Anne Beffel, Jane Benson, Curtis Cuffie, Charles Goldman, Elke Lehmann, Pia Lindman, Brian P. McGrath, Andrea Ray, and Alex Villar.