It was built in 1958–60 by the architect E. Vincent Harris on the site of The Abbey, a Gothic house which had been constructed for a Mr Abbot in 1880 and destroyed by bombing in 1944.

[3] There were demonstrations against the project by those who advocated for the building to be in a modern style.

[4] The public library is within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and is managed as part of a tri-borough integrated library and archive service, alongside those of Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham.

[5] On the south side of the library, facing Phillimore Walk, are two statues of a lion and a unicorn, both holding the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom.

They were sculpted by William McMillan in order to reflect the "Royal" status of the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.