In the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph for March 12, 1905, the Boston architect described this Carnegie library as “a forceful adaptation of … what is commonly known as the Néo-Grec style,” continuing: “With an exterior expressing the intents and purposes of the building, aided by the concentration of solids and voids in groups, an extraordinarily ample fenestration is secured without impairing the solidity or monumental character of the building.”
The walls are of pressed Roman brick in a gray color, with trim of Platte Canyon granite, Pueblo sandstone, and ivory white terracotta. The formality of the design defers to the entry, with its overdoor anthemion. The building now serves as the library's local history section, attached to the northwest corner of the newer and otherwise unremarkable Penrose Public Library, a sprawling, two-story building at 20 North Cascade.