The building is located opposite the Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan,[1] which dates from around 1361, and was architecturally conceived as a complement to the older structure as part of a vast campaign by the 19th century rulers of Egypt to both associate themselves with the perceived glory of earlier periods in Egypt's Islamic history and modernize the city.

[1] It was originally commissioned for Hoshiyar Qadin, the mother of the 19th century Khedive Isma'il Pasha to expand and replace the old Zawiya.

Hoshiyar ordered an extensive renovation of the zawiya, and so the original structure save for the graves of Ali Abu Shubbak and Yahya al-Ansari was demolished.

Construction work was supervised by the Hungarian architect Max Herz, head of the Committee for the Conservation of the Monuments of Cairo.

[3] The mosque was designed in a Neo-Mamluk style, which was fashionable in Cairo at the time and which referenced historic Mamluk architecture.

[8] In the middle of the western side is the entrance to the royal mausoleum, which is surrounded by stone columns with ornate marble bases.