The site held Moctezuma II's New Houses, which Cortés's conquerors razed, and the article says much of the current stone came from that palace. Rodrigo de Pontocillos and Juan Rodríguez began rebuilding in 1521, or 1522 in the infobox. A riot in 1692 nearly destroyed it, and Friar Diego Valverde rebuilt it for Viceroy Gaspar de Sandoval, giving it a Baroque look.
The red tezontle facade is over 660 feet (200 m) long, filling the east side of the Zócalo, with two towers and three main doorways. Augusto Petriccioli designed a third floor added from 1926 to 1929 under Alberto J. Pani.
Diego Rivera painted the stairwell mural, The Epic of the Mexican People, from 1929 to 1935. It covers about 4,800 square feet (450 m²), and the series on the middle floor was never finished. Only a few of the 14 courtyards are open to the public.
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