Designed in Art Deco style by Jan Vanhoenacker, Émile Van Averbeke and Jos Smolderen, the Boerentoren was one of Europe's very first tall buildings.

[2] The Torengebouw van Antwerpen was designed in anticipation of the 1930 International Exhibition of Colonial, Maritime and Flemish Art in Antwerp to mark the centenary of Belgian independence.

[5][6] Until 1969, little or nothing changed in the tower building (except for the addition of an antenna in 1954), but in 1970 restoration began and a new wing was added along the Eiermarkt.

According to the original contract, that wing should have been built together with the main building, but was not realised due to the bank's financial problems.

[5][6] In 2020, the company Katoen Natie acquired the tower with the intention of turning it into a cultural institution, while The Phoebus Foundation chancellery will be responsible for organising permanent and temporary exhibitions with works from its collection, alongside public and private collaborations.

[10] On 18 August 2022, a short, intense fire broke out on the fourth floor of the tower building along the Eiermarkt side.