In the wake of the Great Depression, Leeds was host to large numbers of migrant workers, who were frequently housed in appalling conditions.

A programme of slum clearance, partly driven by the Housing Act 1930 and led particularly by Charles Jenkinson, followed, described by the historian Alison Ravetz as 'a heroic age of Leeds history' and fiercely opposed by the Conservative Party.

Art Deco in style, the building was an imposing, five-storey brick edifice, designed in 1936 by George C. Robb,[6] then senior architectural assistant to R. A. H.

[7] Square in plan, it contained four small courtyards, as many as 523 bedrooms, land numerous common spaces and shared facilities for laundry, washing, cooking, and dining.

[18] The small Leeds developer Citu conceived a redevelopment of Shaftesbury Hourse in 2005, and completed the purchase of the building in 2008,[14] with finance coming prominently from the Co-operative Bank.

[22] The ground floor of Shaftesbury House was turned into car parking and plant rooms, and the cruciform inner wings demolished to create a single large courtyard.

[23] The framework and roof were completed during August 2009,[24] and the building was finished in April 2010, at which time it had 172 one, two and three-bedroom eco-apartments, and about 15,000 square feet of office space.

[30][31][32] However, the redevelopment took place against the backdrop of the Great Recession, with Greenhouse being one of few large developments to be completed in Leeds after the housing market crashed.

[35] But Citu temporarily diversified their use of unsold units to include a conference suite called Greenspace and an aparthotel business.

[6] The developers prominently expressed an ethos for the building that included a holistically conceived architecture and engineering system that focused on ecological and social sustainability and that promoted small, creative business and urban regeneration.

The building has influenced subsequent work by the same developers,[14] such as at Little Kelham[91] and a factory in Hunslet to produce passive houses, initially for deployment next door in Citu's Climate Innovation District in Leeds.