It is located on Padre Burgos Avenue across from the National Museum of Anthropology in the eastern side of Rizal Park.

[3] The neoclassical building was built in 1921 and originally served to house the various legislative bodies of the Philippine government.

The building was originally designed by the Bureau of Public Works (precursor of the Department of Public Works and Highways) Consulting Architect Ralph Harrington Doane[4] and Antonio Toledo in 1918, and was intended to be the future home of the National Library of the Philippines, according to the Plan of Manila of Daniel H.

[5] Meanwhile, a Capitol building for the Philippine Legislature (established on October 16, 1916) was to rise on Wallace Field, just south of the library (the location is now María Y. Orosa Street in Rizal Park).

The Second Regular Session of the 7th Philippine Legislature was formally opened on the inauguration of the building on July 16, 1926 in the presence of Governor-General Leonard Wood, then Senate President Manuel L. Quezon, House Speaker Manuel Roxas, and Colonel Carmi A. Thompson, envoy of President Calvin Coolidge of the United States.

In 1940, the National Assembly was replaced by a bicameral Congress of the Philippines, consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives.

While the House of Representatives moved to the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Constitution Hill, Quezon City, the Senate used the original Congress Building for their plenary sessions.