Designed by the firm Mathers and Haldenby and built between 1937 and 1938, it was one of Toronto's best examples of streamline moderne architecture.

The building was home to The Globe and Mail newspaper and was named after the founder of that paper, William Henry Wright (1876–1951).

The main door of the original building was retained and installed at The Globe and Mail's subsequent home on Front Street.

Additional sculptural elements from the structure may be found at Guild Park and Gardens in Scarborough.

The plans for the William H. Wright Building are held at the Archives of Ontario as part of the "Mathers and Haldenby Fonds."