The 11-story skyscraper with classical base-shaft-capital format features red brick and rich neoclassical detail. Its theater, which seated nearly 2,500 people, was said to be the largest between Atlanta and Washington, D. C. when completed and was described as the first in the state with air conditioning. In the early 1980s the building was renovated as a performing arts center associated with the North Carolina School of the Arts. At the 1983 opening, Gregory Peck was the master of ceremonies and Leonard Bernstein conducted the North Carolina School of the Arts symphony.