Made of brick, construction of the building began in 1888 and completed in 1890 on land owned jointly by the university and Iowa City.

Eventually the building would become the school of journalism for the University of Iowa and would house the campus typesetting machines and printing presses.

It would be from these presses that The Daily Iowan, The Hawkeye, Frivol, Iowa Literary Magazine, The Transit and The Journal of Business would be printed.

Close Hall would remain the home of the school of journalism as well as the university press room until the late 1950s.

After the university publishing left, Close Hall became an underused, gaudy building on a valuable piece of property.