The Oginskis' Palace was one of the largest and grandest residences in Vilnius. In order to admire its façade from Ostrobramska Street, a short tunnel street, not coincidentally called Prospektowa, was built before 1765.

The Oginskis' Palace was created as a result of a successive merger of adjacent properties, which lasted for about 100 years, and as a result it became one of the largest residences (about 6.9 hectares) in Vilnius, comparable only with the Radziwill Palace at the junction of Zamkovaya and Świętojańska Streets (not preserved). The size of the palace is determined by the tax census of 1806, when 40 large and 19 small rooms were recorded. The stables were for 36 horses and the coach house for 8 vehicles.

The origins of the Oginskis' residence date back to 1677, when the Vitebsk chamberlain, Szymon Karol Oginsky (d. 1699), bought the house from the Kushelinskis. It cannot be ruled out that the choice of location was motivated not only by its convenient location in relation to the Rudnicka Gate and proximity to the market square, but also by its proximity to three churches associated with the Carmelites - the visceral and barefoot ones. Oginsky was famous for his piety and support for these very orders. He even founded St Teresa's Monastery in Rybaki - a suburb beyond the Neris River.

The estate was inherited by Oginsky's third wife, Teresa of Woynów, aunt of the future King Stanisław Poniatowski. Later the palace fell into the hands of Marcjan Michał Oginsky (1672-1750), Szymon Karol's fifth son. In the following decades, he purchased the neighbouring tenements while carrying out renovations in them. Shortly before his death, the Vitebsk voivode bequeathed the palace to his eldest son, Ignatius (c. 1698-1775). He divided the remaining real estate between Koñska and Rudnicka Streets between his younger sons from his first marriage to Teresa of Brzostowska (d. 1721): Tadeusz Franciszek (1712-1783) and Kazimierz (d. 1769). Kazimierz sold his share to Ignacy on 28 April 1751, who also acquired the estate from Tadeusz Franciszek three years later.

Ignacy Oginsky was still buying up the surrounding real estate in 1753, 1755 and 1758, enclosing an irregular but imposing area connected with representative tracts, as it lay between two streets situated at the back of the Town Hall Square. Both parts - from Rudnicka Street and from Końska Street - had basements and were in the form of an inverted U. The building was thus located on an east-west axis with the representative part from Końska Street. The block from Rudnicka Street received its final three-storey shape in the early 1870s and has retained its late Baroque character to this day. Its central part with the entrance gate is set back. It also has rounded corners with a dynamically shaped cornice. The façade, also facing the courtyard, is enlivened by panels with carved corners, separating the individual storeys. The central part above the gate is covered with lisens and the basement is enriched with bonia. From the courtyard, the entire width of the lower storey is covered by arcades.

As late as 1749, Ignacy Oginsky bought the burnt and "empty" houses on Koñska Street, opposite the palace. In 1765 at the latest, he ordered them to be demolished and organised a short but wide street leading directly from the residence to Ostrobramska Street, closing the view from there with the palace facade. In this way, the area in front of the Gates of Dawn, which was already a recognised sanctuary of Vilnius and one of the entrances used for parade entries to the Lithuanian capital, was fundamentally changed. Closing the view of the new street with the façade of the palace created scenographic solutions in the city space. The view of the palace was created in an axial and tunnel-like manner. In this way, the space interacted with the viewer, and the palace became an important urban element in this part of Vilnius.

The activity of Ignacy Oginsky and his wife Helena (c. 1700-1792), who was said to be "a lady of beauty, wisdom and [such] great strength that she could break horseshoes", was connected with the numerous foundations they undertook in their own estates, as well as in Warsaw. As childless, they were inherited by their immediate family, including Tadeusz Franciszek's sons, Andrzej Ignacy (1740-1787) and Franciszek Ksawery (1742-1814).

In the years 1807-1808 the palace building on Końska Street was reconstructed by the then owner Michał Kleofas Oginski (1765-1833), son of Andrzej Ignacy. This successful composer and well-educated man gave this part of the palace a fashionable classicist appearance, while adapting the façade to the view from Ostrobramska Street.

In 1828 and 1835, the palace was (partly) put up for sale due to Oginsky's debts, and requisitioned by the Tsar for his participation in the November Uprising. From 1833 to 1859 the residence was owned by Ireneusz Kleofas Oginski (1808-1863). It was reconstructed between 1840 and 1850, with the construction of a residential annex in the courtyard, which divided it into two unequal parts, blurring the grandiose character of the residence.

Ireneusz Kleofas was succeeded by Michał Mikołaj Ogiński (1849-1902), and later by a relative of his wife Maria - Karol Janusz Skórzewski (1897-1977). During World War II, the building housed various institutions connected with the Jewish ghetto established by the Germans. The palace was significantly damaged during wartime activities. Rebuilt, since 1975 it has housed a theatre, flats and also service premises.