The Virginia Military Institute Historic District is a

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

encompassing the historic central core of the

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

campus in

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...

. Developed beginning in 1839, the school grew into the premiere military academy in the Southern United States, providing trained military leaders to many of the nation's wars. The district includes

the Barracks ''The Barracks'' was the first novel by Irish writer John McGahern (1934-2006). Critically acclaimed when it was published in 1963, it won the AE Memorial Award from the Arts Council of Ireland and the Macauley Fellowship.Gonzalez, Alexander G ...

, which was separately declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1965. The historic district was designated in 1974. and

Description and history

The historic district includes the VMI campus's central parade ground, a roughly oval greensward that is ringed by campus roads with buildings on the other side. It includes all of those buildings, as well as those lining an eastward-extending tongue on Letcher Avenue, Burma Road, and Stono Lane. The dominant feature of the campus is the

Barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

, a sprawling Gothic building with fortress-like crenellations. Its oldest surviving portion dates to 1848, and was designed by

Alexander Jackson Davis Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis (July 24, 1803 – January 14, 1892), was an American architect, known particularly for his association with the Gothic Revival style. Education Davis was born in New York City and studied at t ...

; it is the only structure to survive Union attacks during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, and was a major influence in the design of later buildings. Buildings that were influenced by Davis's work include the main Commandant's Quarters, built in 1862, and the Pendleton-Coles House, also Gothic in character but in the

Carpenter Gothic Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...

style. Later architectural styles on the campus include neocolonial faculty residence buildings on the west side of the parade ground. Near its eastern end, the district includes

Stono Stono, also known as Jordan's Point (pronounced "Jer-don"), is a historic home located at Lexington, Virginia. It was built about 1818, and is a cruciform shaped brick dwelling consisting of a two-story, three-bay, central section with one-stor ...

, the 1818 house of John Jordan, the lead builder of the VMI campus and Centre Hall on the adjacent

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingto ...

campus.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Virginia Geography of Lexington, Virginia Virginia Military Institute campus Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Lexington, Virginia

Description and history

See also

References