[3] Other than the housing facilities, the barracks had storage rooms, kitchens, mess halls, dungeons, and horse stables.

On May 12, 1898, during the American bombing of San Juan, the fleet led by Admiral William T. Sampson damaged the northeast side of the barracks.

Although it was in disrepair, the building was included in the first heritage list of historic structures and monuments prepared by academic architect Mario J. Buschiazzo for the Puerto Rico Planning Board in 1955.

[2] The Ballajá Barracks today house several educational and cultural organizations, namely the Museo de las Américas on the second floor of the building since 1992.

In addition to the museum on the second floor, the first floor houses a dance school specializing in tablao flamenco, a bar, a movie theater, a coffee exhibition and café, and a Spanish restaurant called Rincón Ibérico, while the second-floor hosts offices and academic institutions such as the Puerto Rican Academy of the Spanish Language and the State Office of Historic Conservation.

[8] Initially, when Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain to the United States, the federal government paid the Catholic Church for this property, among others in the area.