[1] A design competition was held between several architecture firms, with prominent Sydney architect Thomas Rowe securing the £350 contract.

[5] The suspicious death of manager Philip Husk two years later, first thought to be business-related, was later ruled to be suicide.

[9] In June 1897, James Joynton Smith retired after five years as managing director and licensee of the Grand Central Coffee Palace, in the Imperial Arcade.

[10][11][12] "At the beginning of the [20th] century" Smith acquired the lease for the Arcadia Hotel with an option to purchase, which he executed some years later when the estate was in liquidation.

[13] On 2 October 1924, Smith attended the auction for the remaining western (Pitt Street) portion of the Imperial Arcade.

[17][18][19] Shortly after, on 5 December 1924, the first Woolworths store was opened in the arcade basement, alongside a billiard saloon and the printing works of "Smith's Weekly".

[22] In August 1936 Smith was reportedly in negotiations with the Myer Group to sell the property for a tentative price of £600,000.

[25][26] In November 1941, shareholders of City Freeholds Ltd approved a contract of sale (dated October 24, 1941) for the Imperial Arcade, Arcadia Hotel, and adjoining property 'Durno's' at 176 Pitt Street valued in the company's June 30 accounts at £360,987.

This led to speculation that a wealthy Sydney company, Burns Philp and Co. Ltd, proprietors of the prosperous Penney's chain, were also involved in the purchase.

[30] At the time of the 1941 sale of the Imperial Arcade, Sydney's Truth newspaper reported that "any great structural changes in the property would appear to be precluded by the National Security Regulations controlling expenditure of building construction work."

The same article, however, also speculated that "this section of busy Pitt Street may some day see a development which will entirely alter its landscape".

[17] In 1960, reports first emerged of plans to demolish the Imperial Arcade and replace it with a 36-storey, £4,000,000 mixed-use office block.

[3] Notable features included "V-shaped areas in side walls" to promote light and ventilation.

The Building's original colour scheme of white and grey, deemed too "cold and uninviting", was redecorated in 1897 under the direction of architect Herbert S. Thompson, in "cream and green, with gay touches of salmon, gold, crimson and cinnamon".