The Century Building (formerly also known as the Drapery Building) is a Queen Anne style building at 33 East 17th Street between Park Avenue South and Broadway in Union Square, Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by William Schickel and built in 1880–1881 by Arnold Constable & Company. The Century Building consists of five floors topped by a -story attic. The Century Building was constructed as a speculative development with no main tenant. The building contained the headquarters of the Century Publishing Company from 1881 until 1915, and was also occupied by various other commercial and industrial concerns. Left vacant in the late 1970s, it was renovated into a Barnes & Noble bookstore in 1995. The Century Building was designated a New York City landmark in 1986, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. History Planning and construction Union Square was first laid out in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, expanded in 1832, and then made into a public park in 1839. The completion of the park led to the construction of mansions surrounding it, and the Everett House hotel, located at 33 East 17th Street, was among several fashionable buildings completed around Union Square. After the American Civil War, Union Square became a primarily commercial area and many mansions were destroyed, including Everett House. This coincided with a general trend in development where previously-vacant lots north of Lower Manhattan were being developed. Arnold Constable & Company was one of the companies that acquired land in the area, buying several lots on the north end of Union Square, including the site of the former Everett House, in 1867. Arnold Constable & Co. intended to develop the Everett site for their new store, and even signed an agreement with the previous owners to preserve a "light court" on the site, but ultimately decided instead to build their store at the nearby corner of Broadway and 19th Street. The Arnold family held onto the property for over a decade, with the intention of earning rental income from the as-yet-undeveloped site; in 1879, the family's architect J. William Schickel was commissioned to create plans for a "speculative commercial building" at the site, without an anchor tenant for the building. At the time, real estate market activity had recovered from the Panic of 1873, though properties were still relatively inexpensive and the population was growing. According to the