Vicinage Farm was owned by Thomas McCabe, a watchmaker by trade, an advocate of Catholic Emancipation and parliamentary reform, and a founder member in 1791 of the Society of United Irishmen.

The grounds of the college are accessed primarily from a tree-lined avenue on the Antrim Road, which leads to the front quadrangle, known as "the quad".

The foremost building, which comprises 3 sides of the quadrangle and faces westward, is the oldest part of the college and dates to its earliest days in the 1860s.

'A' and 'B' blocks, housing the History, Classics and Drama departments, as well as administrative offices, the library, and the chapel, take up much of these three sides; the remaining rooms consist of priests' apartments, former dormitories and the Upper Study Hall.

The concreted back quadrangle, bounded by the College Hall (westward), the gymnasium (northward) and the old building (southward and eastward), has in recent years been enhanced by several flower beds.

[7] At the rear of the college grounds is the Sports Hall, the centrepiece of which is a basketball court, renovated in recent years with a multi-purpose hardwood floor.

[11] The college is strong in mathematics and the primary sciences, with numerous alumni working in senior positions in prestigious national and international engineering and technology companies and research institutes.