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Spokane United Methodist Homes became a non-profit corporation in 1958, and it began construction on this tower the following year. According to Rockwood Manor's web site: "On November 1, 1960, Rockwood South Hill’s 7-story tower opened offering independent apartments, making Rockwood one of the few pioneers in the state offering an active retirement alternative." (See "Rockwood Communities: Our History,"Accessed 12/05/2014.) Spokane United Methodist Homes commissioned the local firm of Culler, Gale, Martell, Norris and Davis, AIA, Architects, to design this 300-bed facility, that also contained a 30-bed infirmary for incapacitated residents. Sited on a forested 32-acre lot, Rockwood Manor was situated on what was the periphery of the City of Spokane. Fifty-eight full-time and ten part-time staff supervised the 187,340-square-foot facility that cost $5,963,000 million to build when it opened in 1960, exclusive of furnishings. Of this total, $3,130,000 went for construction and $2,833,000 for site development. Furnishings cost $50,000, and draperies for this long-rectangular, curtain-walled building cost an additional $120,000. L. Keith Hellstrom served as the landscape architect, Lyle Marque and Associates, mechanical engineers and Joseph M. Doyle, electrical engineer.

Noverre Musson and Helen Heusinkveld's book, Buildings for the Elderly, [New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1963] p. 110, included an architect's statement about Rockwood Manor: "We were endeavoring to provide comfortable, friendly, congenial surroundings--a simple building, yet one which would function efficiently. This building was conceived as a simple block dominating the highest part of a rocky, densely wooded, unspoiled area, with an inspiring view. We endeavored to integrate our construction with its environment so the existing natural beauty might be preserved. Local stone from the site and excavation was used in the construction, creating a continuity between site and building." Rockwood manor originally contained a dining room for 300 residents, a nursing unit dining area for 40, and a staff eating space, a chapel/auditorium seating 500, an entry lounge and two others per floor, a large space for games, a kitchenette and laundry on each floor, a 5,000-square-foot recreation room, small crafts spaces, beauty salon, woodworking shop, gardening room, roof deck and exterior spaces for miniature golf, horseshoes, shuffleboard, and picnics. Rockwood Manor enabled residents to live independently or to select assisted-living options, an early provider of such services in the State of WA.

In later years, the original seven-story tower became surrounded by other types of senior housing set on winding streets. Single-family residences (Forest Estates), central community center and dining area, townhouses (the Courtyard), and another, taller skyscraper (the Summit) were built.

PCAD id: 19487