[1][2] In 1930 he commissioned the well known architect Branislav Kojić, who was a proponent of the traditional Serbian national style but also incorporating principles of modernism,[1] to design a new hotel opposite the main Belgrade Glavna railway station and the central Post Office building.

In 1937, hotelier Djurdje S. Ninković together with his son-in-law, architect Ivan Savković, commenced the project to build, what was at the time, one of the biggest hotels in Belgrade.

[2] On the opposite side of Sava Square architect Savković, who was a proponent of the modernist architectural style, made a utilitarian and functional design for hotel Astoria which was opened for guests on 1 May 1938.

In the 1960s and 1970s the advent of air travel showed that hotelier Ninković had correctly anticipated the development of the affordable business hotel concept.

However, the area around the station, known as Savamala, deteriorated in character after the Second World War and became run down as private property was confiscated and enterprising individuals and businesses were replaced by communist state owned concerns.