Designed by Marcello Piacentini, chief architect of the Italian Fascist regime, it served as the Jerusalem branch of the Assicurazioni Generali insurance company from 1935 to 1946.

In 1946 the British Mandatory government nationalized the building and enclosed it and several other structures at the eastern end of Jaffa Road in a fortified security zone.

Since the establishment of the state, the Generali Building has housed the offices of the Jerusalem District Administration and other government agencies, and street-level stores.

The building's neoclassical and modern architecture, and large, rooftop sculpture of a Lion of Saint Mark have made it a prominent landmark in downtown Jerusalem.

[6] The company hired Jewish-Palestinian architect Richard Kauffmann, designer of Jerusalem garden suburbs such as Rehavia, Beit Hakerem, and Talpiot, to draw up a plan.

[1] Piacentini submitted a design for a triangular building that combined neoclassical and modern elements with a subdued and "non-jarring" appearance, a common look in 1930s Fascist architecture in Italy.

[9] Security zones with huge coils of barbed wire filling the streets and dragon's teeth blocking the incursion of armed vehicles began appearing around Jerusalem.

[10] One such zone, established in 1946,[11] encompassed the eastern end of Jaffa Road and included the Russian Compound, the Anglo-Palestine Bank, the Central Post Office, and the Generali Building.

The first one to be recovered was the Generali Building, where fighters hoisted the Israeli flag over the lion sculpture on the roof before continuing on to take control of the Russian Compound.