Conditions Governing Use

Manuscript collections in the VMI Archives are made available for educational and research use. The VMI Archives should be cited as the source. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any copyright holders. Materials from our collections may not be redistributed, published or reproduced without permission from the VMI Archives. Contact the VMI Archives for additional information.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions

Online Access

This collection is avaliable online

Preferred Citation

Alexander Jackson Davis architectural drawings, MS 0276, Virginia Military Institute Archives, Lexington, Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892), a notable 19th century American architect, designed VMI barracks, professors' residences, and other Institute buildings during the 1850s and 1860s. Davis was born in New York, and studied at the American Academy of Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design. He helped to popularize the Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Italianate styles, and his many important projects included private residences as well as public buildings.

Davis has long been recognized by historians as the most significant American practitioner of the "secular gothic," and VMI was the first American college planned entirely in the Gothic Revival style. This style incorporates towers, turrets, and other design elements first used in medieval castles and cathedrals.

Davis's association with VMI came about as a result of his design work for Philip St. George Cocke, a wealthy Virginia planter and member of the VMI Board of Visitors. Cocke, an impassioned advocate of the Gothic style, employed Davis to design "Belmead," the Cocke residence in Powhatan County, Virginia. Cocke became Davis's patron in the state, and when VMI began its building program in the late 1840s, it turned to Davis to create a comprehensive plan for the Institute.

During the period between 1850 and 1861, a significant portion of the barracks, a Porter's Lodge, mess hall, the Superintendent's residence, and several faculty residences were constructed using Davis' designs. Davis' dream of completing the barracks quadrangle was interrupted by the Civil War and VMI's post-war financial problems, and his work for the Institute ended in the 1870s. It was not until the early 20th century that his vision for the Parade Ground facade of barracks was realized, based on a Davis-inspired design by another noted architect, Bertram Goodhue.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of 27 architectural drawings by Alexander Jackson Davis executed for VMI between 1859 and 1870. Included are designs for barracks, the Superintendent's residence, and faculty residences. The bulk of the drawings are ink and wash plans.

Related Material

Correspondence between Alexander Jackson Davis and VMI's Superintendent Francis H. Smith is available in the Superintendent's official correspondence files of the period.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Architectural drawing
• Architecture
• Architecture -- Virginia -- History
• Gothic revival (Architecture) -- Virginia -- Lexington
• Historic buildings—Virginia—Lexington
• Virginia Military Institute—Buildings, structures, etc.
• Virginia Military Institute—History—19th century