the building's architect, walter thomas bailey, was an american architect from kewanee, illinois. he was the first african american graduate with a bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering from the university of illinois at urbana-champaign and the first licensed african-american architect in the state of illinois. he worked at the tuskegee institute, and practiced in both memphis and chicago.

after graduation from the university of illinois, bailey worked for a small architectural firm owned by harry eckland in his hometown of kewanee. during this time he also worked for a champaign, illinois firm, spencer & temple. bailey assisted in the planning of the 1905 colonel wolfe school in champaign during this period. in 1905 bailey was appointed as the head of the mechanical industries department at the tuskegee institute where he designed several campus buildings including white hall (1908), and a girl's dormitory. he remained at tuskegee until 1916 when he moved to memphis and opened a practice on beale street. after bailey's move to memphis he began the first of multiple commissions for the knights of pythias. he designed the mosaic state temple building and the pythian theater building, both in little rock in 1922. the next year he undertook another arkansas commission in hot springs known as the pythian bath house and sanitarium.

through his knights of pythias connections bailey was given what would be the largest commission of his career, the national knights of pythias temple in chicago, illinois. construction began on the building in 1924 and bailey moved his office to the city. the site of the temple was on located on chicago's south side. when he first moved to chicago, bailey rented an office on the second floor of the overton hygienic building on south state street. during this time, construction on the national knights of pythias temple proceeded slowly, and by 1928 the interior of the building remained unfinished. though the knights of pythias eventually lost ownership of the building, bailey did maintain his office in the structure after it was finally completed. aside from the knights of pythias temple in chicago, bailey had few major commissions during the 1920's and the subsequent great depression greatly decreased business for bailey and many other black entrepreneurs in the area. the last major project for bailey was the chicago landmark art moderne first church of deliverance in 1939. bailey died on february 21, 1941 from pneumonia and complications caused by heart disease. obituatries at the time stated he was working on two projects when he died. one was the olivet baptist church, the other was reportedly the ida b. wells homes but that work was probably in a secondary capacity.