[1] The building, partly funded by the charity of Andrew Carnegie, was designed by the Liverpool architects Briggs, Wolstenholme and Thornely in 1912.

It also housed the zoological and geological collection of Clement Lindley Wragge, transferred from Borough Hall in Stafford, which had since 1882 been the location of the lending and reference library.

The original building is V-shaped, with the main entrance, a semi-circular porch with two Tuscan columns and a semi-domed roof, at the flattened point at the north-west.

[3][4] The Friends of the Carnegie Old Library Stafford launched a campaign to re-open the building as a community venue.

In 2019, however, a proposal submitted to Stafford Borough Council, to convert it into ten apartments and a bar and restaurant, was approved.