Originally built with neoclassical characteristics, its construction was started by Portuguese José Machado Coelho in 1853, having been used as a private residence until the 1860s.

The building belonged to the princes until the proclamation of the Republic, in 1889, when it was confiscated by the republican military government and transferred to the Union, gaining its current name.

[1][2] In 1908, a new renovation, led by Francisco Marcelino de Souza Aguiar, gave the façade of the palace eclectic features.

[2][3][4] In December 1889, when the palace was confiscated by the military government and transferred to the Union, decree 78-A formally banished the imperial family and forced Emperor Pedro II to liquidate his assets in Brazilian territory within two years.

[5] A third decree in the following year, already under the 1891 Republican Constitution, again determined the transfer of possession of the palace to the Union, but a court decision at the time in favor of the legal representative of the imperial family in Brazil stopped the execution of the order of president Deodoro da Fonseca.

[9] In 1967, the first case was considered time-barred by Brazilian courts due to prescription, but the heirs appealed the decision.