This is one of the eleven libraries that diplomat David K. E. Bruce gave to Southside towns. Like its counterparts in other communities, the library was located near the town center within walking distance for most residents. The building was clothed in Colonial Revival, a style that came to be considered native Virginian after Colonial Williamsburg's opening in the early 1930s. A slate roof, copper gutters, and boxwood foundation plantings contributed to the distinctly regional dignity Bruce intended for these libraries. The main block with clipped gambrel roof, end chimneys, and a delicate front porch housed a large front reading room with smaller rooms for stacks and a room for African American readers reached by a side porch. The Colonial Revival house (c. 1936, Charles M. Buchanan; 267 Washington) across from the library is a residential counterpart in the same idiom, built for cattleman and farmer W. S. Hundley.