This is a beautiful Neo-Classical brick and stone building whose cornerstone was laid on September 12, 1904, its construction funded by both Andrew Carnegie and Spokane resident A. B. Campbell, who donated the land. It occupies one city block on the east end of a Historic District known as
Brown's Addition. Its design is the work of the Spokane architectural firm
Preusse and Zittel.
The visual highlight of the building is its entrance, which is centered within a portico supported by four two story tall Corinthian columns made of Tenino sandstone, the same material as employed for the stone foundation. The entry leads to an interior courtyard with tile floor. Most rooms in the two story structure, some with impressively large fireplaces, open to the courtyard or to balconies above.
The building was placed on the National Register in 1982 as a structure of primary importance within the Riverside Historic District.
The Carnegie building housed the Library until 1963, when the Comstock Library (previously the Sears building) opened for business on April 6th of that year. For a time Building No.1 of the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing, the Old Library is now a commercial building occupied by Integrus Architecture.