As one of only three remaining original Soldiers Homes in the country, the Milwaukee Soldiers Home National Historic Landmark District remains an outstanding representation of the development of a national system of medical and residential benefits for disabled veterans. The homes were designed as places of refuge and recuperation for physically and mentally disabled soldiers who had survived the Civil War.

The Milwaukee Soldiers Home contains some of the oldest buildings in the VA system, and the majority of its recuperative village and landscape remain intact. Old Main is the only original Soldiers Home building in the country designed to combine multiple basic veteran care functions under one roof. The Milwaukee Soldiers Home is beloved by veterans who believe that the site’s recuperative powers should remain accessible to aging Vietnam vets and returning Iraq and Afghanistan vets suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury.

In 2011, the campus was nominated to the National Trust’s list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the Milwaukee Preservation Alliance, sparking a partnership between local, state, and national preservation groups that began to meet regularly alongside an Advisory Council composed of veterans and related organizations, to explore preservation solutions.

Nearly ten years later that work came to fruition when, in 2021, six historic buildings in the Milwaukee Soldiers Home National Historic Landmark District reopened to provide housing and supportive services for homeless veterans. An Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) Agreement between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, The Alexander Company, and the Milwaukee Housing Authority has created a mutually beneficial partnership that revitalized multiple significant buildings at the Milwaukee Soldiers Home and met a community need, while generating income for the federal government.

This project, which also used $40 million in historic tax credits, received a Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Award in 2021.