The National Building was constructed from late 1904 to mid 1905 by the Northern Pacific Railway as part of the road's multi-million dollar plan to improve their many Seattle properties and capitalize on the city's booming commission trade. One of the building's first tenants was the National Grocery Company which at first only occupied two of the building's eight stores and would later occupy the entire building, becoming its namesake. It would occupy the building until 1930. The building was later home to many small manufacturing and distributing firms and has been an office building since the late 1960s.