During the process of selecting an appropriate site for the Carnegie building, the residents of New Monterey made a strong bid for locating the library in their neighborhood. When the decision was made to accept the downtown Van Buren Street site was made, what began as a protest by New Monterey residents, sustained itself as a permanent lobby for library services in the city's outlying areas. In 1913, Miss Ella Thomas consented to act as custodian over a New Monterey branch library, established in her Lighthouse Avenue office. But because the branch was just set up for the purpose of circulating books, had no reading room, and was open only five hours per week, it was less than satisfactory. It took two decades of citizen persuasion, but in 1931, a New Monterey branch library was built at 700 Laine Street, near the present site of the Bayview School. The New Monterey branch library was in operation for twenty years before it re-entered the limelight. In 1953, the City Council proposed to close the branch in a cost-savings measure. The proposal met with letters of protest, petitions, and stormy public meetings until it was finally decreed that the branch would close permanently on January 1, 1954. The Council made its decision a bit more palatable to the angry citizens by announcing that a bookmobile would be purchased to provide even better library services to people of the outlying areas, including those in New Monterey. The bookmobile went into service in 1956.

In the meanwhile, the main library, originally designed to serve a population of 5,000 found itself serving a population of 17,500. The collection had grown from 3,500 volumes to 46,000 volumes in a building planned for a maximum of 20,000 books. So, in 1950 the voters of Monterey passed a $350,000 bond measure for the construction of a new home for the Monterey Public Library. The new building was erected on an odd-shaped site located at the corner of Madison and Pacific Streets. The structure was designed in the Second Bay Tradition by the firm of noted California architect William Wurster and is one of Monterey's outstanding attractions for people interested in California architecture. Second Bay Tradition is more of a philosophy than a style because Wurster's approach to architecture was highly personal. He believed that each building should be unique, not beholden stylistically to an architectural precedent; that a building should be modern in terms of arrangement of space, use of materials, and application of technology; that a building's characteristics be determined primarily by its location; and that its appearance be in close harmony with its surroundings.

As an example of Second Bay Tradition architecture, the building was a complete success.  The design employs a system of radiating steel beams which allow for 16-ft ceilings without the use of interior support walls and floor to ceiling windows for abundant natural light. Exposed I-beams with steel columns support the mezzanine for an effect that it light, open and airy and yet makes no attempt to conceal the structural components of the building. To mitigate the "steel and glass" on the outside of the building which is housed in an architecturally eclectic neighborhood which includes important historic buildings and Mexican-era adobes, the architect used a system of concrete buttresses, placed at 16-ft intervals, and recessed the steel-framed glass windows for a lovely sculpted effect. The concrete walls were coated with a creamy stucco and painted white to suggest, but not copy, the look of local adobes. The building has long, low, horizontal lines with a balcony over the entry, for an effect which is interestingly reminiscent of El Cuartel. The awkward pentagonal shape of the building site was not in any way altered to more easily accommodate a building. Instead, the shape of the building takes its cue from the site, closely hugging the lot line along its Madison and Pacific Street fronts. Upon its opening in 1952, the new library building received national attention and high praise. In commissioning a building of such outstanding architectural merit, the citizens of Monterey made a lasting statement about the extent to which the community library is valued.