It was built in 1912–14 for use as the governor's mansion, according to designs submitted by Weber, Werner & Adkins of Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Act specified that the new mansion should be "constructed, trimmed and finished with native stone produced from quarries in Kentucky."

The Beaux-Arts design owed a great deal to the Petit Trianon at Versailles' interiors were in neoclassical French taste.

In 1980, Kentucky's First Lady, Phyllis George Brown, began a fundraising effort called Save the Mansion, designed to fund the restoration of the interior and furnish the building.

The Governor's Mansion Preservation Foundation is a charitable trust that is charged with conservation of the historic structure.