[citation needed] In 1796, the Kentucky General Assembly appropriated funds to provide a house to accommodate the governor.

It has undergone several style changes as evidenced by some Victorian design elements that were added.

Dignitaries including Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, Louis-Philippe of France, Henry Clay, William Jennings Bryan, and the Marquis de Lafayette have been guests of the Mansion.

Since Henry, Lieutenant Governors have chosen not to live in the mansion but to maintain residences in their hometowns and travel to Frankfort as needed.

[2] Both a bricklayer and stonemason who helped build the house, Robert P. Letcher and Thomas Metcalf, later became governors and lived there.