The building’s history began in 1687 with the purchase of an extensive parcel of land in Rossau. The Prince’s intentions were obvious from the very beginning, the acquisition including not only land for the residence itself, but also an area for an overall urban concept. The area came to be known as Liechtenthal, and is one of Austria’s rare extant examples of expansive urban planning during the baroque era.

The new palace and its extensive gardens were at the nucleus of the complex, for which Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach presented the first unified concept. His plans envisioned a noble country palace looking out towards an airy belvedere. A large baroque garden, for which Fischer probably also presented plans, was supposed to fill the space between these two poles. All he was able to realise, however, was the Belvedere which acted as a pinion between the palace and the neighbourhood behind.

In 1690, the prince assigned the planning of the Garden Palace itself to the Bologna-educated architect Domenico Egidio Rossi (1659-1715), who proposed not an airy summer house but a palazzo in villa as a dignified residence for the prince on the outskirts of the imperial city. Construction began according to this plan in 1691. In keeping with the building’s inner structure, the central hall dominated the palace’s outward appearance. The subordinate wings on each side were each fronted by a staircase — a clear reference to the style of many north Italian villas built during the seicento.

Rossi’s work-in-progress was taken over in 1692 by Domenico Martinelli (1650–1718), who had taught at the famous Accademia di San Lucca in Rome until being called to Vienna. Martinelli was the prince’s preferred architect after 1690.

In a move towards more of a palace-type structure, Rossi’s design for the wings was raised by one floor, leaving the building with a considerably more imposing appearance than the original concept. The new three-storey design also fulfilled the requirements that the prince’s father, Karl Eusebius (1611–1684), had set for a princely country palace in his treatise on architecture.

Inside the palace, there was an elaborate arrangement of rooms. A vestibule was followed by two large staircases with red marble steps leading to the Great Hall and the gallery behind. In this, Martinelli adhered to the tradition of inner-city palace architecture; this was highly unusual for a suburban palace.