151-157 Maujer Street was designed by Henry C. Pelton in the Art Deco style. The first cornerstone was laid in 1935 and the building opened in 1937. Its facade bears the words "Department of Health New York," and the entryway is covered in low-reliefs depicting medical scenes.

The facility was opened as the "Williamsburg-Greenpoint Health Center," and was the fourth of eight of such facilities to open in working-class neighborhoods across the city. The health center offered a wide array of services, including maternity care, infant care, dental and oral health facilities, TB and venereal disease clinics, a space for visiting nurses, and an auditorium. Designed as part of the WPA's push towards providing greater access to healthcare, the project was funded, in part, by the federal government. At its opening, Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia said to a crowd: "If you can’t afford your own doctor, this will aid you." The Williamsburg-Greenpoint Health Center was strategically placed adjacent to the Williamsburg Houses, a brand new low-income housing development (though one of the more expensive ones at the time), and a new high school. Children and teenager's health was considered of utmost importance, and the clinic provided working-class families with the medical attention they needed. La Guardia called the intersection “one of the greatest social projects anywhere."