The office building opened on July 13, 1964.[4] An apartment building designed by McKim, Mead, and White previously occupied the site.[5] One tenant of that building was the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy.[6] Prior to the construction of the McKim, Mead and White building, the block was among the landholdings of Elizabeth Goelet Kip and her son George Goelet Kip.[7] In the 1870s, as part of the expansion of nearby Grand Central Depot, the land was subject to a protracted legal battle which resulted in Elizabeth Kip being forced by eminent domain to sell the land to the New York and Harlem Railroad for $212,500.[8][9]
Tenants
The building currently houses parts of JPMorgan Chase's Investment Bank, Commercial Bank, and other corporate functions. JP Morgan's takeover of Bear Stearns in 2008 resulted in most investment banking employees moving to 383 Madison Avenue to reduce the leased real estate footprint in Midtown. 277 Park Avenue remains under the ownership of the family-owned Stahl Organization, the building's original developer.[10] Previous tenants have included Penthouse Magazine, Schlumberger, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette,[11] and Chemical Bank (predecessor to JPMorgan Chase).