It is located at 235 College Street, in an architecturally distinguished Beaux-Arts building, constructed in 1902 with funding support from Andrew Carnegie.

It was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Walter R. B. Willcox of Burlington, who won a competition to receive the commission.

[2] The building had major settling problems in 1973 where it had been built over a filled-in ravine, and the library's collection was moved elsewhere.

The library is located just east of downtown Burlington, at the southeast corner of College Street and South Winooski Avenue.

The Carnegie building is a tall single-story structure, built of brick with terra cotta trim and resting on a granite foundation.