The building occupies the first block of 25th August Martyrs Avenue, facing the harbour and in close proximity to the complex of the Western Arsenals. Following the destruction that ensued after the massacre and fire of 1898, and the demolition of the Arsenals’ Gate, which stood approximately on the same site, the property was purchased in 1901 by the Monastic Fund of Heraklion. Between 1901 and 1913, a two-storey building was erected on the site, with an open space to the north.

In 1919 the property was ceded to the Pananeion Sanatorium, and in the same year the architect Dimitrios Kyriakòs was commissioned to design a three-storey mansion to the north of the original two-storey structure, with a shared staircase and ancillary spaces on the roof terrace. Construction was completed in 1926, and the unified building went on to house the Minos Hotel. Together with two further buildings by the same architect on the opposite side of the avenue, it dominated the city’s seafront as seen from the harbour until the outbreak of the Second World War.

In 1941 the three-storey section of the building suffered extensive damage during aerial bombardment, leading to its demolition in the 1960s, while the remaining structure was left abandoned. In 1987 the property was transferred to the Municipality of Heraklion.