The I. Miller Building was designed by architect Louis H. Friedland, a specialist in commercial design during the 1920s and 1930s. The building’s handsome Modern Classical design draws on prototypes from several different periods and is executed in rich materials including limestone, marble, and mosaic.
The facade provides an elegant backdrop for the statues, by the noted sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder, which depict Ethel Barrymore as Ophelia (representing drama), Marilyn Miller as Sunny (musical comedy), Rosa Ponselle as Norma (opera), and Mary Pickford as Little Lord Fauntleroy (film), and that the figures are carefully studied portraits which work well as individual works of art and are arranged in complementary poses to create a unified ensemble.