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The Cunard Line, for whom the Cunard Building was constructed, was one of the preeminent British transatlantic steamship companies of the 19th century. Its New York City office, which opened in 1846, had always been situated in or around Bowling Green. After moving several times, the Cunard Line sought "an adequate and permanent American headquarters" by the 1910s. Benjamin Wistar Morris started planning for a new office building for the Cunard Line by August 1917, before the site had even been purchased. His preliminary plans called for a grandiose ticket lobby for Cunard's ticket offices and a smaller elevator lobby for tenants of the upper floors. Despite subsequent modifications to the draft, the two separate lobbies remained in the final plan. The individual lots comprising the future Cunard Building were then purchased by the Irons &amp; Todd real-estate firm, which then formed the Todd, Irons &amp; Robertson, Inc. construction company. Irons &amp; Todd eventually hoped to turn over the land to the Twenty-Five Broadway Corporation, a subsidiary headed by an official for the Cunard Line.