[2] Clay received formal legal education at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, studying under George Wythe.

Clay prepared for the bar by working with the Virginia attorney general, Robert Brooke, and he was admitted in 1797.

As a young lawyer seeking to establish a successful law practice, Clay relocated to Lexington in November 1797.

[3] In 1803, Clay built and occupied the building located on Mill Street near his wife's family residence.

Clay occupied the office while serving in the Kentucky Legislature and in the United States Senate.