Girolamo Cassar designed the palace for the Order of St John, whose Grand Master used it. Work began in 1574, though the infobox date predates the house of Eustachio del Monte (1569) and the auberge of the Italian langue (about 1571) that it absorbed. Manuel Pinto da Fonseca's alterations in the 1740s gave the building its present form.
The limestone facade is austere Mannerist, with heavy corner rustication and an uninterrupted cornice, and the later work is Baroque. It was originally painted red ochre, and its portals and balconies date from the 18th century. The palace surrounds two courtyards, Neptune's and Prince Alfred's, and the article calls it the largest palace in Valletta.
The Office of the President of Malta has been here since 1974. Heritage Malta runs the State Rooms and Armoury as a museum, and the palace reopened to visitors in 2024 after restoration.
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