Part of the Historic Third Ward, the six-story building is the oldest existing example of structural engineer Claude A. P. Turner's Spiral Mushroom System of flat-slab concrete reinforcement.

[3] The building was originally constructed as a five story structure in 1906 for John Hoffman & Sons Company, a wholesale grocer specializing in the manufacturing of coffee, tea and spices.

When the project was in its early stages of design, Milwaukee consulting engineer John Geist came across an article written by Claude A.P.

[3][5] A sixth floor was to the structure in 1911 to accommodate the growth in Hoffman's business and was used to accommodate their coffee roasting equipment; however, beginning in the late 1920s the firm began to share space in the building with other manufacturers.

The building was purchased in 1947 by developer George Bockl and was renamed the following year after his son Robert Marshall.