The building, originally known as the Wynne-Claughton Building, was constructed in the 1920s to serve as the headquarters for the Wynne-Claughton Company, an Atlanta-based real estate firm created by Morgan T. Wynne and Edward N. Claughton in 1923.

Other early tenants in the building included the Oakland Motor Car Company and the Georgia chapter of the Knights of the KKK.

[3] This may have been in reference to the Carnegie Library in Atlanta, which was located directly across the street from the building.

The building is located on a triangular-shaped tract of land bordered by Peachtree Street, Carnegie Way, and Ellis Street, which it shares with the Peachtree Center station and the Ellis Hotel (formerly known as the Winecoff Hotel).

Some people managed to escape the fire by climbing across makeshift bridges between the two buildings.