Built in the middle of the nineteenth century, it has experienced a range of uses, culminating in its present status as an Indiana University office building.

Landowner George M. Legg built the original portion of the house in 1848,[2] using a variant of the Greek Revival style of architecture.

[2][4] At this time, it still lay at the city's edge, but the location became more central after 1883: in that year, a fire destroyed the buildings of Indiana University at Seminary Square, and the trustees chose to move the campus to the property immediately northeast of the Legg House.

[4] Insufficient funding ensured that the house was not properly maintained; it was boarded up in 1993,[2] and the university initially considered demolishing the structure before preservationists and city officials began to negotiate for its preservation.

[1] Later that year, as a result of this designation,[6] the city and university were awarded a grant of $27,000 from the historic preservation division of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources,[3] and renovation began in 2002.