It is surrounded by pink concrete columns and a high iron fence with a closely guarded entrance.

It is built on the site where Álvaro Caminha, an early administrator of Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe, ordered the construction of the Torre do Capitão (Captain's Tower) between 1492 and 1493.

A building appears in a drawing on the site in 1844 that corresponds to Cunha Matos' description, but of a different design than the current Presidential Palace.

João Sousa Morais and Joana Bastos Malheiro, researchers on the architectural history of São Tomé e Príncipe, propose that the structure was built in the intervening period.

It was built as a mansion in a simple classical style typical of the Portuguese overseas territories, with two stories and a rose-pink façade.