The first General Assembly Library was housed in a small room shared with the Auckland Provincial Council.

[4] After Parliament moved to Wellington in 1862, some books were sent down on a ship, the White Swan, which was wrecked on the Wairarapa coast.

[7][8] It was New Zealand's finest library and source of overseas ideas, philosophy and literature for representatives and staff.

Premier and poet Alfred Domett supported access for some non-parliamentarians, although the offering of this privilege had its opponents at different times.

When, in 1965, it became one of the three bases of the newly formed National Library, it continued to function in the same bipartite manner, as parliamentary service and wide-ranging resource of international thought, art and literature.

The library was originally designed as a three-storey building by Thomas Turnbull in Gothic Revival style.

[19] It was fire resistant, being constructed of brick made at Mount Cook gaol[20] with an iron firedoor separating the then General Assembly Library from the main entrance section.

The third storey of the design was not built to save money (costs had reached £50,000) and it was completed by the government architect John Campbell.

[22] The fireproofing saved the General Assembly Library from the fire of 1907, which destroyed the rest of the wooden parliament buildings.