Real Estate Record & Guide, retail development was being concentrated around 14th Street, 23rd Street, and Union Square. Construction on the building started in April 1880, and it was completed 11 months later in March 1881, with the total construction cost being $300,000. 19th-century use Arnold & Constable Co. was able to rent out the building floor-by-floor despite not having a main tenant. One of the building's original tenants was the Century Company, which published the popular The Century Magazine for adults and St. Nicholas Magazine for children. They started renting fifth-floor space for their headquarters in September 1881, having been drawn by the proximity to a park, as well as the building's location within what was then Manhattan's commercial center. Arnold & Constable also rented space to several long-term tenants, including upholsterers Johnson & Faulkner and architect George B. Post, as well as milliners Worthington & Smith and clothing manufacturers Earl & Wilson. The appellation "Century Building" likely came into popular use after the company erected a sign on the rooftop in November 1882. The bookbinders G. W. Alexander moved to the top floor in 1886, prompting several other tenants to complain that the firm's flammable materials posed a fire hazard, but with no reaction from the owners. On July 7, 1888, a burning glue pot caught fire, destroying the roof and the top floor, and resulting in significant damage to the building's other floors that were caused when the New York City Fire Department broke holes in the ceiling to stop the fire. The building and its tenants suffered a total of $195,000 in damage. Two firefighters were later dismissed from the force after being accused of stealing collars from Earl & Wilson. The Century Building became known nationally due to the cachet of its tenants. The Century Company showed its World's Columbian Exposition exhibit at the Century Building in December 1893. One story concerned a runaway child from Indiana who ran away in 1895 "to seek [her] fortune", only to be found with a paper containing the address "33 East Seventeenth Street New-York". 20th and 21st centuries Another fire on the third floor, in August 1903, destroyed much of the stock of the H. S. Tavshanjian Rug Company, which was located on the fourth floor. The rug company's subsequent losses were estimated at $55,000, and the company auctioned off their entire inventory for nearly $0.5 million. Century