 The building was designed by Ernest Flagg, who also designed the Singer Building in New York and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.The structure was commissioned by Flagg's cousin, Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt, who was the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt II.Alice and Ernest were first cousins as Alice's mother, Rachel Moore Flagg, was the sister of Flagg's father, Jared Bradley Flagg.