[1] The first municipal building in Falmouth was the Old Town Hall in the High Street which was built as a Congregational chapel in 1710.

[3] In the late 19th century, the borough leaders decided that a more substantial structure was needed to accommodate a free library and a science and art school as well as the municipal offices:[4] the site they selected on the west side of The Moor had been used as the town quarry.

[6] It was designed by William Henry Tressider in the Italianate style, built in grey limestone at a cost of £7,000 and was opened in 1896.

[7] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto The Moor with the end bays projected forward and gabled; the central section of three bays featured, on the ground floor, a loggia with Tuscan order columns supporting an entablature and a frieze inscribed with the words "Passmore Edwards Free Library" and, on the first floor, three round headed windows flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature and a balustrade.

[9] The building ceased to be the local seat of government after the enlarged Carrick District Council was formed in Truro in 1974.