Built in 1848 and repeatedly enlarged and redesigned by a succession of architects, it includes at its core the oldest surviving building of the campus.

[3] The campus of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is located on the north side of the city of Lexington.

The Old Barracks are located along the northeastern edge of the ground, forming a long arcing facade.

[5] This portion was designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis and built in 1848, and was a fine piece of early Gothic Revival architecture that influenced the other buildings present on the campus.

In the 1890s the building was redesigned by Isaac Eugene Alexander Rose, and in 1916 it was enlarged to design work by Benjamin Grosvenor Goodhue, which created the first complete quadrangle.