The building is on the site of five small medieval buildings that were demolished between 1856 and 1886, partly in order to expand Kärntner Straße. It was designed by Andreas Streit and constructed between 1887 and 1891.Manfred Wehdorn, Mario Schwarz, and Susanne Hayder, Vienna, a Guide to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Vienna: Springer, 2004, , p. 32.Dietmar Steiner, Johann Georg Gsteu, et al., Architecture in Vienna, Vienna: Prachner, 1990, , p. 69 describes the architecture as "late Historicist 'Old-German-neo-Baroque.'" It is one of the few palaces or mansions in Vienna never to have been an aristocratic residence.
