Demolition of the four buildings on the northern portion of the Irving Trust site began in May 1929, while work on the building itself began that August. The ceremonial cornerstone was laid on January 15, 1930. During the construction process, nearby structures such as Trinity Church were shored up. In March 1930, Irving Trust signed an agreement with the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, at the time one of the operators of the city's subway system, to build three new entrances to the Wall Street station on Broadway and another entrance in 1 Wall Street's basement. The frame involved the installation of 250,000 rivets and was completed within five months of the groundbreaking without any serious incidents. When the steel frame topped out on May 12, 1930, workers hoisted an evergreen tree to the top of the frame. While the workers were securing the final rivets, a hot steel rivet fell from the building's top and hit a truck below, narrowly missing the truck driver's head and causing a small fire on the street.