Hatton designed the hotel using a classical Italian Renaissance Revival architectural style.

[3] It was named for the mother of its builder, entrepreneur John Whitelaw Lewis who also founded Industrial Savings Bank.

Its large public spaces allowed the Whitelaw to become an important social center.

The end of legal Segregation in the United States and the rise in drugs in the neighborhood led to the decline of the Whitelaw.

Manna, Inc bought the building in 1991 and used historic tax credits to renovate it into low- and moderate-income housing.