This paper presents vibration control of a real-scaled five-story steel structure subjected to horizontal excitation using a semi-active magneto-rheological (MR) damper. A large-sized double-rod MR damper, which is applicable for vibration control of the real-scaled five-story structure, is designed and manufactured on the basis of the field-dependent Bingham model of the MR fluid. The damping force of the MR damper is experimentally evaluated with respect to the excitation frequency at various magnetic fields. After formulating the governing equation of motion for the five-story structure associated with the MR damper, displacement and acceleration responses of the structure are discussed under pseudo earthquake excitation in which a hybrid mass damper is designed to reproduce seismically excited structural responses. The controllers which require only structural response of the damper installed floor for calculating the input current of the MR damper are designed to effectively suppress unwanted structural vibrations