It took its name from Harmanus Bleecker, a prominent Albany politician and benefactor whose estate provided the funds for its construction.

Across Washington Avenue is the University Club of Albany, a similar neo-Georgian brick building also designed by Fuller and listed on the Register.

The northwest corner of the intersection is occupied by another listed property, the Albany Institute of History and Art.

[2] The building itself is a two-story, nine-by-five-bay steel post-and-beam structure on a cast stone foundation resembling granite, faced in brick laid in Flemish bond and topped with a flat roof.

These are slightly recessed double 15-light casement windows with radiating-muntin transoms set in segmental arches with a scroll keystone.

[2] Above is another wide plain frieze with "Harmanus Bleecker Library" carved into it on the center pavilion and both sides.

Above it a projecting cornice supported by scroll brackets shelters an entablature with "Harmanus Bleecker Library" written in it again.

On the original mezzanine level, since removed,[3] the flooring consisted of ¾-inch–thick (1.9 cm) translucent glass panels supported by T-shaped steel frames.

[2] Harmanus Bleecker, the grandson of a former Colonial-era mayor, served a term in the House of Representatives in the early 1810s, when he was still a young man.

She survived him by almost 40 years, and the executor of her estate decided the $130,000 ($4.41 million in modern dollars[4]) would best be spent to benefit the Young Men's Association, an organization Bleecker had strongly supported, including service on its board of directors.

[2] Thirty years later, in 1919, the board of the Young Men's Association decided it would be better off with a structure dedicated purely for use as a library.

Architect Albert W. Fuller, designer of many significant local buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, received the commission, His Classical Revival building, distinguished by its solid rectangular form, contrast between stonework rusticated on the first floor and smooth above, archways and heavily decorated entrance pavilion, is considered one of Albany's finest examples of the style.

[3] The fully occupied restored building has attracted a number of tenants, including notably U.S. Representative Paul Tonko, Farrell Fritz PLLC, a major lobbying practice,[7] and Relentless Awareness, a preeminent New York communications firm.