This palace was among the first buildings to be erected in the city and was built in 1570 by the French Knights Jean Soubiran Arifat and Guy Savignac. After the death of Soubiran the property passed on to the knight F. le Petit de la Guerche.

In 1663 it became the property of the Order's Treasury. It was restructured in 1763 and continued to be used as a residence by various knights.

In the early years of the British rule in Malta, Sir Alexander Ball lived here before moving into the Grandmaster's Palace. In 1821 the building was leased to the Navy as the residence of the Admiral and became known as Admiralty House.

The whole palace is an architectural gem both externally and internally.

It has one of the finest grand staircases in Malta which is probably only rivalled by that of Auberge de Castille. Following restoration works the palace was inaugurated as the Museum of Fine Arts on May 7, 1974. Paintings exhibited in the Museum date from the 14th century. Mepa scheduled the Museum of Fine Arts as a Grade 1 national monument as per Government Notice No. 276/08 in the Government Gazette dated March 28.