Built in 1841 at the direction of Alphonse Dubois de Saligny, charge d'affaires for France to the Republic of Texas, the French Legation was constructed to serve as his official diplomatic residence and office, intended to represent French interests and host the social and political entertaining expected of a foreign envoy in the new republic's capital. Saligny occupied the property only briefly, and it stood largely vacant after France's formal diplomatic presence in Texas ended in the early 1840s. In the mid-to-late 1840s the estate was acquired by Dr. Joseph W. Robertson, whose family made it their private home for nearly a century, raising a large household there and using the grounds, detached kitchen, and outbuildings for ordinary domestic and agricultural purposes; the family's later land sales helped shape the surrounding Robertson Hill neighborhood in East Austin. The State of Texas purchased the property from Robertson's descendants in the late 1940s and placed it under the care of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who restored the buildings and grounds and opened the French Legation Museum to the public in the 1950s, a role the organization maintained for decades. Operational responsibility later transferred to the Texas Historical Commission, which continues to run the property today as a historic house museum and state historic site, interpreting its diplomatic origins and residential history through tours, period furnishings, and public programming.