It is owned by Wellington City Council and is listed as a Category 1 historic place by Heritage New Zealand.

The building was opened in 1991 and was a key element of Wellington’s municipal centre, Te Ngākau Civic Square.

Wellington's first Council-operated public library opened in April 1893 on the corner of Mercer and Wakefield Streets in a building designed by William Crichton, a prominent architect of the time.

[15][20] A colonnade ran along the outside of the building from Victoria Street up a ramp to Civic Square, with its columns designed as metal nikau palms.

At the third floor level a two-storey cantilevered portico connected the library to the neighbouring Council administration building.

[21] The two-storey structure linking the library to the council administration building was damaged in the July 2013 Seddon earthquake, and there were fears it might collapse.

[24] The engineers had specific concerns about the fixings on the precast concrete floors which were of similar design to those in Statistics House, a building which had partially collapsed in the Kaikōura earthquake.

[24]The failure of Statistics House and other Wellington buildings damaged in the Kaikōura earthquake had led to revision of seismic assessment guidelines.

The Ministry of Business, Industry and Employment (MBIE) released The Seismic Assessment of Existing Buildings, commonly known as the Red Book, in July 2017.

These guidelines provide "a technical basis for engineers to carry out seismic assessments of existing buildings".

[29] At the time of its closure in March 2019, the Central Library was the second-most visited public building in Wellington, after Te Papa museum.

[35] Wellington City Council has stated that it prefers to have a large central library with floor loading designed to support the weight of many books and future-proofed for population growth, and that a large central library is a drawcard to bring people into the city centre, as well as providing a safe space for vulnerable people.

[30]: 7, 17 In July 2019 the New Zealand Institute of Architects mounted a campaign to save the library, in response to the mayor's suggestion that it be demolished.

[30]: 18–26  Also in September 2020, acknowledging fears that the building might be demolished, Heritage New Zealand proposed that it should be listed as a Category 1 historic place.

[39] After public consultation closed in October 2020, the Council announced that it would spend $179 million to repair and upgrade the library rather than demolish it.

[43] The Central Library's Category 1 historic place listing from Heritage New Zealand took effect from 10 March 2021.

[44] The building mixes a variety of materials and styles to create a welcoming space, with the large glass wall permitting people outside to see the library in action.

Heritage New Zealand notes that the metal nikau palms forming a colonnade are a playful postmodern aspect of the building and have become one of its best-known and loved features.

The building will be future-proofed to respond to changes in population and how we access information, and facilitate access to information by integrating Wellington City Council services, Wellington City Archives and Capital E (a children's play and learning experience) into the same space.

[51] This decision has met with opposition from authors and researchers,[51][52] and is contrary to Athfield's original vision of the library as an "information supermarket".