Originally, Charles Ilfeld located his modest dry goods firm in a one-story adobe (now demolished) north of the Plaza. However, by 1862, he had prospered to the point that he erected the first third of this Italianate building. He completed it in a larger, second stage, on the right, in 1890. The Ilfeld Company continued to grow, becoming the largest mercantile firm in the state between the world wars, with warehouses and stores in every major city in New Mexico.