The Ellen Wilkinson Building was originally the Humanities Building.  It was later renamed after the Manchester politician Ellen Wilkinson, known in her day as "Red Ellen".  Ellen was a pupil at Ardwick Higher Grade School before attending the University of Manchester, where she was awarded a BA in History in 1913.  She later became involved in the union movement and became the MP for Middlesborough East.   She famously walked at the head of the Jarrow March, a tiny woman with firery red hair.  She went on to become the first woman Minister of Education.

The building was designed by the architectural practice of G. G. Baines of the Building Design Partnership.  The concrete relief, seen below, was designed by William Mitchell.

Appropriately, the building is home to the Centres for: Continuing Education, Educational Leadership, English Language Studies in Education, Occupational and Environmental Health, Human Communication and Deafness, and Speech Pathology.