That's how I read it too. Maybe a bit presumptuous to add such a plaque right away and not, say, as a clause in a will or something – the building might be gone in five years, after all. But I didn't really read it as self aggrandizing.
And while one might regard it as distasteful—it’s certainly tiresome, in my experience— there’s material and psychological benefits to holding that mindset (along with a variety of non-trivial downsides.)