Sophie Charlotte, wife of Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg, commissioned the palace. Johann Arnold Nering designed it in the Baroque style and died during construction, and Martin Grünberg and Andreas Schlüter completed it. It was inaugurated on July 11, 1699. After she died in 1705, Frederick named it Charlottenburg in her memory.
Eosander von Göthe extended it from 1702 with two side wings, an orangery and a large domed tower, topped by a gilded Fortuna wind vane. After 1740, Knobelsdorff supervised the east wing for Frederick the Great. Johann August Nahl designed Rococo interiors, among them the White Hall and the Golden Gallery.
The palace was badly damaged in 1943 and rebuilt to its former condition. Schlüter's equestrian statue of the Great Elector has stood in the courtyard since 1952. Heinrich Gentz designed the neoclassical mausoleum of 1810 to 1812.
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