On the western foot of Castle Hill, atop a sandy cape, construction began of the enclosed type pre-Gothic Early Brick Castle in the 1270s–1280s. This castle, built by the ancestors of the Gediminid dynasty, abutted a ravine leading down from Castle Hill at its northern aspect. In the mid-14th century, the natural ravine was reinforced with logs and transformed into a defensive trench for the castle. By the second half of the 14th century, as the Vilnius Lower Castle was enlarged, the ravine was filled and wooden buildings started being built in its place.
In the early 16th century, these wooden buildings were demolished and replaced with the Late Gothic Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and structures belonging to the Radvilas’ (Radziwiłł) domains. Major construction work commenced in the mid-16th century: the northern annex of the Renaissance palace’s east wing was built, along with the palace’s north west wing, the palace of Mikolaj Radziwiłł the Red (the future Third Servants’ Quarters) and the Castle Hill supporting wall and corridor, which turned into a gallery more than 100 metres long immediately beyond the palace wall.
It was between these structures that the Small Courtyard of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania was formed. When the northern annex of the north west wing of the palace was built in the 17th century, the Small Courtyard became enclosed. In 1799–1801, the north west wing and northern annex, as well as the Radvila Palace, were all demolished. The northern end of the Palace of the Grand Dukes east wing was reconstructed into a two-storey building. In the 19th–20th centuries, just north of this building where the Small Courtyard used to be, a fully enclosed utilitarian courtyard was formed.