It was designed to house the Seattle Stock Exchange by John Graham & Associates and completed in 1930.

John Graham, an English-born architect, also designed many other landmark Seattle buildings, including the downtown Frederick & Nelson (now Nordstrom), the downtown Bon Marché (now a Macy's), and the Dexter Horton Building.

[5] At the time of its completion, the Exchange Building was the second-tallest reinforced concrete skyscraper in the United States.

[6] In addition to many of Seattle's commodity market exchanges, early tenants included General Electric, Standard Oil, Edison Lamp Works, and Underwriters Laboratories.

As of 2016, major tenants include Slalom Consulting, Deloitte Digital, and Nuance Communications.