Following the end of the First World War, the Walloon businessman Lucien Kaisin, in collaboration with the Swiss-Belgian architect Michel Polak, put forward plans for a complex of luxurious apartment blocks for the bourgeoisie and aristocracy, the Résidence Palace, to be situated on the edge of Brussels' Leopold Quarter.

Consisting of five "Blocs" (A–E), it was to be "a small town within a city" able to provide its residents with onsite facilities, including a theatre hall, a swimming pool, as well as other commercial services such as a restaurants and hairdressers.

[7] At the end of the 1960s, as part of work to modernise the area during the construction of an underground railway line beneath the Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, a new aluminium façade was built, closing the L-shape, under the supervision of Michel Polak's sons.

In 1988, the eastern part of the Résidence Palace (Blocs D and E) was demolished to make way for the construction of the Justus Lipsius building as the seat of the Council of the European Union.

This followed an advanced implementation of a decision by European leaders during ratification of the Nice Treaty to do so at such a time as the total membership of the EU surpassed 18 member states.

However, in 2004, leaders decided the logistical problems created by the outdated facilities warranted the construction of a new purpose-built seat able to cope with the nearly 6,000 meetings, working groups, and summits per year.

[7][11] Due to EU leaders desire for the building to be eco-friendly, the design was adapted to include solar panels on the roof and recycle rain water.

[14] Samyn and Meurant saw this as a way to not only bring more light and a warmer atmosphere into the building, and particular in the meeting rooms, which for security reasons had to remain windowless, but also to create a visual message, of "permanent creative effort and political debate" befitting a polyglottic diverse Union.