The three-story, U-shaped brick building consists of thirty-seven apartment units surrounding a central courtyard.

[1][2] Wilmanor Apartments was a project of William M. Christensen, a Racine developer whose construction company was also building Washington Park High School at the time.

Christensen intended to capitalize on the growing demand for apartments in Racine, which existed in and near downtown but not in the more desirable western residential neighborhoods where Wilmanor would be built.

Wilmanor was Racine's second large apartment building, following Bull Manor (part of the Southside Historic District), which had also been designed by Matson and was completed in 1925.

[3][4] As newer and more modern apartment complexes were built in the post-World War II era, Wilmanor became overshadowed and its surrounding neighborhood entered into decades of economic decline.