This building stands as a monument to a businessman-developer and mayor of Roanoke, W. W. Boxley, who led Roanoke's “Golden Age of Municipal Progress” in the 1920s. The steel-framed building reflects the influence of Chicago's high-rise structures with a granite first story, a six-story middle section of beige brick with terra-cotta spandrels and brick quoins, and an ornate terra-cotta top floor beneath a deep copper cornice. The building was designed by Frye, who had begun a partnership with Frank F. Stone.