Emperor Matthias built a hunting chateau on the site in 1614. The businessman Zacharias Leeb bought it in 1688 and hired Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, and the palace, first called Palais Leeb, was completed in 1692. The article describes the style as Baroque. It stands in the 130-acre Augarten park, called the oldest Baroque garden in Vienna.
Joseph II acquired the palace in 1780. The Habsburgs held balls and a salon there, and guests included Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt. It was remodeled in 1897 for the family of Archduke Otto.
The palace was heavily damaged in the Second World War and fully restored. In 1948 it was given to the Vienna Boys' Choir, which has its home and school there.
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