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The innovative permanent Army post planned for Plattsburgh was initially to be four stone barracks structures positioned in a quadrangle around a {{convert|200|ft|m|sing=on}} square parade ground and surrounded by a wooden [[palisade]] with a western facing gate. Construction began late in 1838 on a rise overlooking the lake about a mile outside of the village. The site selected for the post stood just to the south of the three remaining [[earthworks (engineering)|earthwork]] [[fortifications]] left over from the 1814 [[siege]], Fort Brown, Fort Moreau, and Fort Scott. These forts, which had been carefully laid out prior to the Battle, had been constructed under the direction of Major [[Joseph Totten]], an expert in military and tactical engineering of the period. Together with two smaller [[redoubt]]s which had been erected later, Fort Tompkins and Fort Gaines, the Plattsburgh fortifications formed a pentagon of interlocking [[cannon]] fire which could have protected the barracks from any hostile forces if the need arose.
By August, 1839, during the command of [[Benjamin Kendrick Pierce]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Seward |first=William H.
When finally completed, the enlisted men's barracks, which would later be called simply the "Old Stone Barracks," was finished with a very attractive and distinctive two story [[tuscan order|tuscan columned]] and corniced [[portico]] which runs the entire {{convert|200|ft|m|sing=on}} length of the building and was covered with a [[skillion roof]]. Initially four external staircases along this portico allowed the only access to the second floor. One stairway for each of the four large second floor rooms which served as each Company's living quarters. The smaller and slightly more elaborate neighboring officer's barracks was also finished with a similar two story portico although on the opposite side of the structure facing Lake Champlain where officers could enjoy the panoramic view and breeze of Plattsburgh Bay. Future 18th [[President of the United States]] [[Ulysses S. Grant]] occupied quarters in the officer's barracks while stationed at Plattsburgh as a young Lieutenant sometime between his graduation from [[West Point]] in 1843 and prior to serving in the [[Mexican-American War|Mexican War]] in 1846.
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