Architect Clinton Day designed the City of Paris Department Store in the Beaux-Arts architectural style. Ten years after its opening in 1896, its interior was destroyed by the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. Bakewell & Brown were commissioned to reconstruct the building. The interior was demolished but the two street facades remained intact.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 as listing #75000471. It is also California Historical Landmark 876.