It should not be confused with Guanabara Palace, located in the same neighborhood (at Pinheiro Machado Street), which is the official seat of the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

President Kubitschek used the Laranjeiras Palace as his main residence until the transfer of the Federal capital to Brasília.

From the transfer of the seat of the Government to the new capital city of Brasília in 1960 until 1974, when it was ceded to the Rio de Janeiro State Government, the Laranjeiras Palace remained an official palace of the Presidency of the Republic, for use as a residence and workplace of the nation's chief executive when the president was in Rio de Janeiro.

During the first decade after the founding of Brasília it was very common for presidents to travel to Rio de Janeiro and to spend a considerable amount of time in there, as although no longer the capital, in the 1960s Rio de Janeiro was still home to all foreign embassies.

1960 - With the change of the capital to Brasília, the Palácio Laranjeiras remained the official residence of the presidents when in Rio de Janeiro and still received distinguished guests.