The building is located in Grand Center near St. Louis' Midtown neighborhood, and is visible from vantage points around the city.

Commissioned by Edmund Monroe "Ed" Mays to be the home of his two businesses, Continental-Life Insurance and the Grand National Bank, the building was designed by William B. Ittner, a prominent St. Louis architect.

When Futterman died suddenly in 1961, choking on a sandwich at a dinner party at age 33, his death propelled the building into near insolvency.

[2] In his 2003 book The Queen of Lace, The Story of the Continental Life Building, developer and author Stephen Trampe called it "the sandwich that started the decline.

After a few false starts in the late 1990s, St. Louis developers Stephen Trampe and Mike Barry took on the project, renovating the building into apartments.