Originally known as the Buck & Rayner Building or the Twentieth Century Building, the building was completed in 1915. Buck & Rayner was a Chicago chain of drug stores, and commissioned the construction of the building. It occupied the corner store and basement. Home Federal occupied the first five floors, as well as the two floors below street level. In 1958, Home Federal Savings and Loan purchased the Republic Building across State Street. The Republic Building was demolished and a new 16 story building was constructed. Home Federal Savings and Loan moved its headquarters to the new building on December 17, 1962. Local 66 of the Elevator Operators and Starters Union, the main offices of Sterling Cleaners and Dyers, the
Audit Bureau of Circulations, a
Liggett's drug store, Family Loan Corporation, May Jewelers, Romas Restaurant, the Illinois Migrant Council, the
National Alliance of Black Feminists, and the local office of the
Guardian Angels.
Jesse Jackson's Chicago headquarters were in the Century Building during his
1984 presidential campaign. In 2003, Marc Realty Co. purchased the building from Mitchell Macks for $1.25 million. In 2005, the General Services Administration used
eminent domain to seize the Century Building, also acquiring other nearby buildings, citing the need for increased security around the
Dirksen Federal Building. In 2011 and 2013,
Preservation Chicago listed the Century Building and the nearby
Consumers Building as one of Chicago's 7 most endangered buildings. The Century Building and Consumers Building would have been converted to apartments, as part of a $141 million redevelopment project, while the historic
Streamline Moderne storefront of
214 South State Street would have been restored and incorporated into a 25,000 square-foot structure built between the taller buildings for retail and commercial use. In 2022, Preservation Chicago listed the Century Building and the nearby Consumers Building as one of Chicago's 7 most endangered buildings, after a $52 million federal earmark to demolish the buildings was revealed. ==See also==