To resolve the space shortage, the General Services Administration undertook a bold plan to purchase, restore, and adaptively use two adjacent historic buildings: the Main Library and the Isaac Baker & Son Clothing Store.

The Library was designed by the firm of Alden & Harlow of Pittsburgh, and was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Construction of the building occurred during the period 1943-1946 by the Henry Shenk Company, a prominent Erie general contractor.

Work was stopped on the building shortly after it began, because of the constrictions imposed by World War II; however, it resumed in 1945 and was substantially completed in 1946.

The Erie Public Library combines elements of the Beaux Arts Classicism and Second Renaissance Revival styles of architecture.

The 1938 courthouse was designed in the Stripped Classical style, which was commonly used for Federal buildings constructed during the Great Depression.

It displays all of the character-defining features of the style, including rounded corners, curved glass-block panels, a metal canopy, and a flat roof.

Because of these significant architectural features, the Baker Building was integrated into the plan for the complex as a U.S. Post Office, although a portion of the rear was demolished.

The center of the second floor at the rounded corner is articulated with a large, square, glass block opening that is backlit with vertical fluorescent lights.

[2] The plan of the shop utilizes strategically placed curved partitions to draw the shopper's eye deep into the store.

[2] The front (west) portion of the shop contains a rounded, two story entrance space that contains a second floor balcony from to gaze down, while upstairs.

[2] The Moderne style of commercial architecture was not prominent in Erie, and no other examples known to survive display the level of completeness and intactness exhibited by the Baker Building.