Important construction and architectural innovations were incorporated into the project, which made Albanija an exceptional building endeavor in the Balkans.

[1] The location of the Palace Albanija building had previously been occupied by a kafana named "Kod Albanije" ("Chez Albania"), which was built in 1860.

[8] The kafana was built in oriental, Turkish style, with yellow façade and its original clientele included Ottoman seymen, merchants, hirelings, Serbian guardsmen, etc.

[11] The owners, descendants of Krsta Tomović, were refusing to sell the lot by asking too much money for the parcel's 650 m2 (7,000 sq ft).

[4] The first prize wasn't awarded, which was kind of the usual action at the time, as it allowed for the investor to combine all the other projects.

He decided to go with two projects by the architects from Zagreb, one by Branko Bon and Milan Grakalić, and another by Hinko Bauer and Marijan Haberle.

As the city government had no machinery required for the job, they invited the Kalmyks, emigrants from Russia, noted for their horses.

In the concrete supporting columns, he built it the expensive steel reinforcement, high above the standards in Belgrade in this period.

It was finished 15 months later, and ceremonially opened on 20 October 1939, when World War II already began in other parts of Europe.

The imposing and domineering structure was visible from all parts of Belgrade due to its height and position in the flat and low terrain.

[18] Germans defended it fiercely during the 1944 Belgrade Offensive against the Red Army and Yugoslav Partisan forces.

In the evening of 19 October 1944, 22-years-old Partisan Mladen Petrović placed the Yugoslav flag with red star on the top of Palace Albanija.

Petrović was wounded while bringing the flag to the top of the building, but recuperated enough to participate in Syrmian Front, where he was killed, together with his brother.

[2] The façade was fully reconstructed from war scars only in 1958, when the original, Italian marble, was replaced with the cheaper, domestic one.

This final five floor section was referred to as the tower, as it protruded above the lower, wider part of the building.

The façade is without any ornaments and was plated with the slabs of the blue-gray Italian Cipollino marble,[1][3][8] which was partially replaced during the 1958 reconstruction from damages sustained during World War II.

The 500 kg (1,100 lb) heavy US bomb hit the roof of Albanija directly, fell all the way down to the basement, killing many German soldiers and officers in the shelter.

[2] In June 2018 it was announced that 3 nesting couples of Alpine swift were spotted on the building, which is the first time this happened in Belgrade.

Previously, the closest nesting colony of Alpine swift was 200 km (120 mi) to the east, in the Iron Gates gorge.

Though originally only one skyscraper was planned, it was later decided that three buildings will be built, sharing the same or similar appearance and characteristics.

The ambitious project included previously unseen innovations in Serbia, like the automatized parking platforms, escalators and the cutting edge fire protection system.

[2] The ill fortune of the location of the "third Albanija" since then spurred an urban myth in Belgrade, and the place became known as a jinxed and cursed property named Mitićeva rupa ("Mitić hole").

After the war, Communist government imprisoned Vlada Mitić and confiscated his entire property, including the lot on which the tower was planned and funds prepared for its construction.

The failed projects continued, including the ultra-modern, gigantic shopping mall by the Israeli investors which turned out to be a complete hoax.