Designed by Morrow and Gordon[1] and built by Kell & Rigby[2] during the late 1920s, it was opened in 1930 by Grace Bros, the Australian department store magnates, as their headquarters.

The Grace Building has served various purposes since its opening; it was sublet to the Australian Commonwealth government in the early 1940s and later became the Sydney headquarters of the U.S. armed forces under General Douglas MacArthur during the Pacific War.

[3] Extensive renovation and restoration during the 1990s resulted in the return of many of the building's original features, including light fittings, lifts, stairwells, high pressed-metal ceilings, marble floors, wide hallways, and elegant decorative ironwork.

It was constructed as a headquarters and department store for the Grace Bros chain, who had a long and illustrious history of serving Sydney, particular its upper class gentry.

In 1926, the Grace brothers purchased a block of land on the corner of York, King and Clarence streets, on which the "jewel crown" of their business empire would be built.

By the onset of World War II Grace Bros was experiencing difficulty in leasing office suites[3] and much of the space was allocated to government departments.

In 1943 the Grace Building was requisitioned under national security regulations by the Federal Government for use as headquarters by the Supreme Commander of allied forces in the south-west Pacific, General Douglas MacArthur.

The Grace Building is technically significant because of the unusual reinforced concrete slab and beam construction and the glazed architectural terra cotta cladding.

The Grace Building is historically significant because of its associations with the retail boom of the 1920s and epitomises the optimism and dynamism of that period as well as the subsequent economic collapse and Great Depression.

The Grace Building is technically significant because of the unusual reinforced concrete slab and beam construction and the glazed architectural terra cotta cladding.