The American Pharmaceutical Association Building perches at the summit of a long sloping lawn, a position meant to foster public admiration of the achievements of this profession. Architect John Russell Pope's white Vermont marble building has a plain, windowless central projecting pavilion with four pilasters at the center. This entrance is embellished with allegorical bas-reliefs executed by Ulysses Ricci to portray the progress of pharmacy, as well as Light and Hope. The bronze entrance door is topped by a circular grilled transom and is flanked by bronze lamps. An attic parapet heightens the effect of the building. On either side are two recessed bays. A balus-traded terrace surrounds the entire composition.

While the project was a relatively modest one for Pope, who was also hired to design the National Archives, DAR Continental Memorial Hall, the Mellon Gallery of Art, and the Jefferson Memorial, it attracted favorable response even from modernists, largely for its compatibility with the Lincoln Memorial.