The Manhattan Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street was built in 1914, by the architecture firm McKim, Meade & White who had previously designed New York City's Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. The 559-foot beaux-arts skyscraper is clad in Maine granite and features four pinnacle turrets (symbolizing the four boroughs surrounding Manhattan) topped by a cupola and the gold Civic Fame statue designed by Adolph Weinman.

The U shape of the building bordered with a grand collonade at the entrance along Centre Street. Built on an irregular block, the building straddles Chambers Street east of Centre, which was later demapped with the construction of One Police Plaza. 

Today the building is home to over 3,000 employees in nearly one million square feet of floor space and serves around 2,000 people daily visiting the dozen agencies. While off-limits to the public, the cupola is accessible via a single elevator. There are occasionally times when the cupola is accessible to members of the public.