The building sits on one of the most historic sites in the city; the original location of Henry Yesler's cookhouse that served his sawmill in the early 1850s and was one of Seattle's first community gathering spaces.

[2] Begun in late summer of 1890, construction proceeded slowly on Yesler's portion and a temporary roof was put over the completed first floor and basement as soon as it was fit for occupancy, with Feurer following suit.

The interiors were to be lavishly decorated in marble, mahogany, Spanish cedar, glazed tile and the most modern plumbing system in the city, ultimately making it more expensive than the original design.

[8] After three years of tumultuous legal battles over Henry Yesler's estate were finally settled, the first order of business was to auction off his many Seattle properties, which began in July 1895.

Although all sales from the estate were required to be public, it was largely understood that the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York would be the highest bidder, and they won the building for $130,000.

[10] That July they hired prominent local architect William E. Boone, who at that point had mostly set his practice aside to focus on civic affairs, to supervise alterations to the building and completion of the top 3 floors.

[iii] The redesign, prepared by the prominent New York firm of Clinton and Russell[iv][11] would give the building its current projecting copper cornice, not originally envisioned by Fisher or De Neuf; this work would be completed by the end of 1898.

[14][v] This final phase was designed to blend in seamlessly with the existing façade but would be built using "absolutely fireproof" steel frame construction that as well as serving as a structural anchor to the rest of the building could support up to 3 additional floors if the need arose.

[22][23] While the building remained mostly intact architecturally, The ground floor would be remodeled multiple times over the next several decades, updating and widening storefronts and removing most of the arches from the former banking space.

[26] During World War I, the Mutual Life Building was home to the United States Army recruiting office headquarters on the 5th floor, where victory pins and medals would be awarded to those who presented their discharge papers.

The Shafer Brothers would advertise in the newspapers frequently offering slashed rental rates as low as $1 per square foot but demand for office space on skid row would not improve after World War II, at least not for reputable businesses.

[28] In October 1955, the Mutual Life Building was purchased from the Shafer Brothers Land Company by Seattle dentist and real estate investor Dr. Sidney T. Magnuson[29] for an undisclosed price.

The Mutual Life Building, though not in danger of demolition, was showing its age; its once bright buff brick darkened with decades of soot and pollution and the ground floor was now a hodgepodge of multi-colored facades and garish retail signage.

The early 1960s saw the public rediscovery of Seattle's underground tunnels that raised awareness of the unique architecture of the Pioneer Square area and the poor condition its buildings were in.

[31] The building's water-powered hydraulic elevator was identified as the last one operating in the city and possibly the country and its basement bank vaults reached by a long forgotten marble stairway were a popular destination for urban spelunkers.

[33] Reflecting efforts to bring the neighborhood upscale, The Brittania Tavern, which had occupied the former bank vault space for decades, was replaced by Elroy's ice cream parlor, a popular component of Gay Nineties nostalgia, soon to be followed by more restaurants occupying the entire building[34] and the beginnings of a cosmetic restoration that would spruce up the ground floor and finally wash away the decades of grime.

[41][42] In 2023, a proposal from Hybrid Architecture to convert the Mutual Life Building into a co-living space with 80 units of affordable housing won a citywide design competition.