The building’s distinctive massing creates a striking pyramidal silhouette which is further enhanced at the upper stories by overscaled consoles, four clock faces recalling the Paramount trademark, and a crowning glass globe. Designed by the Chicago-based firm of Rapp & Rapp, who were among the best-known and most prolific designers of elaborate movie theaters in this country in the 1920s, it served as the Eastern headquarters for the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, forerunner of Paramount Pictures, whose entrepreneurial founders played a major role in promoting the revolutionary motion picture medium.