The Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, the former official residence of the General Captains, is located on the east side of the Plaza de Armas.

Capitan General was the military title given to the Spanish military governor of a province of the Spanish Empire. In the Spanish colonies, he was usually also the president of the civilian court of law (audience). Currently the building is occupied by the City Museum of Havana (Museo de la Ciudad Habana), where the artworks and the historical artifacts of Cuba are exhibited in the rooms, preserved with their original colonial decoration. In fact, many items previously stored in other historically significant parts of the city, have been relocated here in order to protect them from being lost or damaged.

HISTORY

In the place where the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales stands today, there was a small Catholic church, named Parroquial Mayor. When it was built in 1524, it was just a hut with a belfry, made of wood and guano, like most of the rustic houses in the Villa San Cristaból de la Habana. In 1538 it was destroyed by the French pirates, but soon the church was rebuilt using the similar material. Towards the year of 1550, it was decided to renovate the church by stone, board and tiles. Unfortunately, in 1555 it was destroyed by the French pirate Jacques de Sores, before its construction was completed. In 1575 the body of the new church, made of limestone and tiles, entered service, but it required frequent repairs, and all the parishioners could not fit into the new church.

The bishops of different periods wanted to move the church to another place, but they could not persuade the city council (cabildo) or the Spanish Crown about their project. Even though the church was damaged considerably by the explosion of the gunpowder store of the vessel Invincible, docked in an area close to the port of Havana, in 1741, the debate about building of a new church continued until 1768, when the hurricane Sanra Teresa added new serious damages to the building. With a surprising speed the Spanish king gave the permission to build the new church and the public prison according the plan of the engineer Silvestre Abarca by a royal decree in 1769.

However, none of the contractors tendered for the project, so that the members of the city hall decided to undertake it by their own. Upon the arrival of the royal decree, approving the establishment of the new church as the cathedral of the Jesuits (Compañía de Jesús), the parish church was demolished in 1773, and it was moved first provisionally to the Oratory of San Felipe Neri, located on the Obrapía street where it intersects with the Aguiar street, and then to the church of the Jesuits (current Catedral de la Habana) in Plaza Ciénaga (current Plaza de la Catedral) in 1777. The burials inside of the parish church that belonged to the prestigious personalities of the time, were disseminated in other temples of Havana. Thus, the Oratory of San Felipe Neri that was inaugurated recently (in 1777), became a cemetery with a great number of transferred burials.

The construction of the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales began on the place of the demolished church in 1776. It was a part of the urban project for the remodeling of the Plaza de Armas in the time of the Governor and the General Captain Felipe Fondesviela y Ondeano (Marqués de la Torre; 1771-1777) that succeeded in a remarkable flourishing of the city. The building was designed by the Cuban architect Antonio Fernández de Trebejos y Zaldívar, the colonel engineer of the Spanish Army that had also drawn the construction plans of the Palacio del Segundo Cabo. When the Palacio del Segundo Cabo had been completed, Marqués de la Torre was so impressed by the result, that he had ordered Antonio Fernández de Trebejos y Zaldívar  to build the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales on the west side of the square along with similar outline.

The material used in the construction was selected meticulously without taking notice of their price. The wood and the limestone were supplied by the Spanish architect Pedro Medina from the island, but others were imported from different countries to ensure the finest quality, such as the bricks from Málaga (100 thousand bricks), the forged or cast-iron grilles from Bilbao, the Carrera marble from Genoa and the hardware from Spain. Even though the hard work was carried out by the slaves, the construction process progressed so slowly that it could be completed in 16 years, in 1792, although some details still took some years. It was inaugurated by Luis de las Casas y Aragorri, the sixth Governor of Cuba after Marquis de la Torre, in 1791, despite the construction of the building was not completed.

It became the residence of the colonial governors of the island (the general captains), and 65 governors stayed here until the end of the Spanish colonial rule in 1898. The upper floor, overlooking the Plaza de Armas, was occupied by the governor's office. The street outside the residence (the O’Reilly street) was paved by luxury wooden cobblestones to muffle the noise of horses’ hooves, so that the governor would be able to sleep comfortably. During this period the building was used also as the meeting place for the city council (cabildo), because the original council offices in Plaza de San Francisco had been severely damaged by the hurricane in 1768. The city council offices were settled to the upper floor, overlooking the Obispo street. The building was also the seat for the mayor's office of Havana, and it stayed so uninterruptedly for 176 years.

The west wing of the building that looks towards the Mercaderes street, was occupied by the public prison that was closed in 1834.  After the removal of the jail, the governor’s house was expanded by including this section of the building in 1835. Later this section was used by the Royal Audience (Real Audiencia de La Habana) and thereafter, by the US Administrator during the USA’s intervention. Royal Audience was a court of the Spanish Crown on the island, created by a royal decree in 1838. The mezzanine and the ground floor were occupied by the merchants and the notaries that rented their offices in installments.

After the Treaty of Paris in 1898, it continued to function as the seat of the military government of the United States during the period of 1899-1902. Upon the declaration of the Republic, the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales became the presidential palace and served so from 1902 to 1920.  After the revolution in 1959, the city council moved its headquarters to the so-called Casa de los Alcaldes, and when the presidential palace was moved to its new localization that now houses the Museo de la Revólucion, the offices of the city council returned to the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales. The municipal authorities moved from the building in 1967.

In 1967, a through restoration process started in the building with the purpose of transforming it into the City Museum of Havana that would be established in December 11, 1967. The first exhibition rooms were inaugurated as of 1968, by moving numerous pieces of high cultural and historical value to the museum. Since 1938, the building is also home to the Oficina del Historiador de La Ciudad de La Habana (Office of the Historian of the City of Havana) that was responsible for the renovation work in Old Havana and owe a great deal to Dr. Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring (1889-1964).

The Palacio de los Capitanes Generales is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of “Old Havana and its Fortifications” since 1982. In fact, the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales considered to be the emblem of the historic center of Havana, as the restoration project preserving the architectural and cultural values of the capital city was prepared and initiated here.