The building complex was constructed as the House of Government of Georgian SSR on the site of the demolished 19th-century Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and adjacent churchyard, with burials of the Georgian cadets killed during the Bolshevik invasion of 1921. It consists of two buildings; the "upper" building was designed by Viktor Kokorin and Giorgi Lezhava and built from 1933 to 1938. The "lower" building, along Rustaveli Avenue, was constructed by the same architects with an input from Vladimer Nasaridze from 1946 to 1953. The two buildings are connected with a courtyard, with staircases and fountains. The design of both buildings heavily uses elements of traditional Georgian architecture. The exterior facing the avenue is dominated by a monumental arcade, with massive eaves and "arch" pediment. The buildings are built of lightweight reinforced concrete, with exterior cladding of tufa rock, granite, and other materials.