The site was historically occupied by the residence of the Uesugi clan of the Yonezawa Domain during the Edo period.

The building was constructed in 1895 from a design by the German expatriate architects Hermann Ende and Wilhelm Böckmann.

[1] Together with the Supreme Court of Judicature building, it was considered a representative work of Meiji era modern public architecture in Japan.

The building was largely unaffected by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 due to its steel-reinforced construction, but was gutted during the firebombing of Tokyo in 1945, with only the exterior walls and floors remaining intact.

[1] The closest station is Sakuradamon on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line.