Mohatta had made his fortune as a ship chandler and trader. The architect commissioned for his palace, Ahmed Hussein Agha, one of the first Muslim architects of India, had come from Jaipur as chief surveyor for the Karachi Municipality. Ahmed Hussein Agha designed several buildings in Karachi, but Mohatta Palace proved to be the coup de maître of his professional career. Working in a Mughal revival style with a combination of locally available yellow Gizri and pink Jodhpur stone, he sought to recreate the Anglo Mughal palaces of the Rajput princes. The building was acquired by the newly formed Government of Pakistan in 1947 to house the country's first ever Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was subsequently the formal residence of Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, sister of the Quaid e Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It was acquired by a public trust in 1995 and opened as a Museum on September 15, 1999.