The palace is located in the Ras el-Tin quarter of Alexandria overlooking the city's Western Harbour.

A number of foreign architects and engineers were commissioned by Muhammad Ali for the design and construction of the palace.

It is said by tradition to be the site of negotiations between Muhammad Ali and Admiral Sir Charles Napier during the Oriental Crisis of 1840.

[4] During the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882, a British naval landing party led by Captain Jacky Fisher was quartered in the palace.

Fig trees (Arabic – teen) were already on the palace site, inspiring its name Ras Al-Teen.

It was totally reconstructed by King Fuad I in the 1920s, with modern services and redecoration making it similar to the opulent Abdeen Palace (built 1863), the larger royal complex in central Cairo.

Much of the opulent furniture during this redecoration was supplied by the Parisian ébéniste, François Linke, on a scale not seen since Versailles 200 years earlier.

The pool was linked to Ras Al-Teen with a narrow and long paved lane atop the breakwater, with a jeep used to pass through waves breaking over it.