The site of the CMLA Building on the corner of Bligh Street and Hunter Street was not occupied by any very permanent buildings for most of the nineteenth century. It is shown as vacant on city plans of 1822, 1843 and 1880. In 1891 the City Mutual Life Assurance Society bought lot 4, right on the corner, then occupied by some small commercial premises. All of these were demolished and, after a competition, George Mansfield’s four-storey offices were erected for the new headquarters of the insurance company in 1893.

The late Victorian colony had been growing in economic activity, which in turn encouraged the growth of major insurance companies, often backed by British capital. The City Mutual, founded in 1878, survived the economic bleakness of the 1890s and prospered in the twentieth century. In the early 1930s, again with depression looming, the society decided to rebuild on the same site and on the adjacent Lot 3 in Bligh Street.

After another competition in 1934, the winning architect was Emil Sodersteen, who had famously designed the War Memorial in Canberra six years earlier. The American-style Art Deco skyscraper was completed in October 1936 and shortly after the 1932 Building magazine noted ‘the whole of Sydney is talking about the new City Mutual Building… People passing in the trams lean forward to gaze upon it, while those walking up Hunter Street stop to admire its streamlined symmetry’ (Building, 12 October 1936, 31). The use of red granite and white Hawkesbury sandstone from Wondabyne, together with the scagliola employed extensively in the interiors, was much praised. The facade also incorporated bronze sculptural reliefs by Rayner Hoff, who was well known from his work at the Hyde Park Anzac Memorial.

Only the first three floors were initially occupied by the company, while the upper floors were leased.