Over the years the building has served as a school, a hospital, a dormitory, a library, and a museum, and is currently occupied by apartments.

It burned down the next year, and the architect Isaiah Rogers was contracted to rebuild the school.

The result, the current building in modified Renaissance Revival style, was completed in 1857.

From 1937 to 1951, the Monsarrat School was used to operate the Free Public Library and Museum, on loan from the Board of Education.

On May 20, 1940, the library on York Street reopened; however, the museum continued on at the Monsarrat for another 37 years.