The three-story palace at the Nikola Zrinskog Square 3, in the downtown centre of Zagreb, where the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia is situated, was built between 1876-77. Its architects, who conceived the project, were Franjo Klein and Janko Nikola Grahor. The first owner of the building was Ivan Buratti - Sokčić, a politician and Maecenas.
The initial purpose of the building was to serve as high-class flats. During the 20th century, the building changed owners several times, and in 1921 it was bought by the "Sava", Real Estate Company from Zagreb. By the end of 1929, it was under new ownership, this time the Zagreb-based "Sava", General Insurance Company. By 1965, the building came into the hands of, among others, the FPRY State Insurance Institute, the Ministry of National Defence of the FPRY and the Board of Unified Trade Unions of Croatia. Finally, in 1994, the Republic of Croatia was registered as the owner of the premises.
In 1921, according to the designs of the architect Rudolf Tönnies, a single storey with an attic was erected in the courtyard, which today represents a unit with the palace on Zrinjevac. This yard building was built for the needs of the "Sava", Real Estate Company from Zagreb and served as an office space.
Stol Sedmorice, the then highest judicial body and predecessor of the Supreme Court, had been operating in the old building of the Parliament Premises in the Upper Town in 1862 and moved to Opatička Street 18 in 1882. According to the archival materials, the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of Croatia, which began operating in 1945, moved to the building at Nikola Zrinski Square 3 in the second half of 1952. This move can be inferred from the introduction request of telephone lines in that building, and from preserved documents for the building renovation of the 1956.
The main building was built in neo-Renaissance style and is considered one of the most significant achievements of historicism in Zagreb. The facade is divided into a broad central ridge and two wings. The ground floor stands out as a separate unit, and it is built of quadra rustica which also bordered four vertical walls of the house. Eight columns of the Ionian Capitals support an architrave on which the balcony consoles stand across the entire width of the central section of the building. In front of the windows on the first and the second floor there are balconies with stone balustrades. The roof wreath gives the whole building particular artistic value. The courtyard building is distinguished by secessionist elements.
The Palace of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, based on the Resolution of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Zagreb from 1963, was registered as a cultural monument and has since been protected by this institution. Thanks to this throughout its years of its existence, it has been mainly kept in its original form. During its recent history, two major reconstructions took place. In 1956, started the renovating of the building for the purposes of the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of Croatia. In order to preserve it from the deterioration and to improve the standards of interior design as well as adaptation to modern business needs, the Ministry of Justice inaugurated in 1997 a thorough renovation of the street building which was completed in mid-1998.