The building façade is rock-face brownstone interspersed with brick in the Romanesque Revival style. The letters “YWCA” are inscribed on the exterior at the top of the second story, originally a mezzanine level. The midsection is punctuated with foliate designs and rows of dentils ending in carved lion masks. Alternating Romanesque columns run along the top, terminated by a cornice with block modillions and supported by decorative panels. Capping the facade is an arcaded parapet between higher end piers with carved panels. A seventh story under a peaked roof had been designed by Robertson but scrapped due to building regulations governing lodging houses.

The building included 78 bedrooms, a parlor and reception rooms, private dining areas, a public restroom and laundry. Bedrooms were furnished with a white-painted iron bed, small oak table, a rocker and washstand with toilet set. A one-story building originally meant to be a studio or meeting rooms was built as an annex at the rear of the lot. It also housed the boiler in the basement. The home was very successful. Boarders could stay for four weeks. Rooms rented for 60 cents a day with an extra 85 cents for meals. Most women seeking employment were teachers, milliners, dressmakers and stenographers, but there were also physicians, lecturers, actresses, nurses, photographers, and all sorts of other jobs represented. Plus, the home had its own employment bureau to assist residents in finding work.

Parallel to the home, on a lot facing 15th Street, was the Young Women’s Christian Association, or YWCA, building, where women could take specialized training courses. It was built before the home, in 1887, also thanks to funds from Margaret Louisa and John Jacob Astor and other wealthy patrons. Robertson designed this building, in the Romanesque Revival style as well, with a mix of red brick and brownstone. An enclosed corridor and intervening garden space connected the building with the home on 16th Street.

Both buildings are still standing today, although altered in use. The 16th Street YWCA was sold to the Society of the Commonwealth in 1917, where it became known as The People’s House. Organizations such as the National Women’s Suffrage Party, Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control League of New York and The Rand School, formed by members of the Socialist Party of America, took offices in the building.

The Margaret Louisa Home lasted longer and was operating until 1946. In 1951, it became the Sidney Hillman Health Center. The first floor was completely renovated, and the facade was modernized at this time. Most recently, plans have been approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to convert the building into a hotel, which would include demolishing most of the structure but preserving the facade. As of 2020, developers planned to rebuild the first floor facade to match the original, as well as adding the never-built gabled roof from Robertson’s original designs.