An elegant and noble residence built in the XVII century, it constituted an authentic villa with the principal façade on the park side. When the palazzo was built, surrounded by extensive verdant lands and woods, it was one of the biggest in the city. Initiated at the end of the seventeenth century on behalf of the Meda family, the building had different proprietors who followed in rapid succession: the Grazia, Cavalchini, Riva, Andreotti families and finally the Dugnani family from 1758.The three storey façade is visible from the street; it has a series of flat framed windows and a door with granite frames and an ornate arch with gracious stuccoes. Above all this is an octagonal-shaped viewing tower. The façade that overlooks the garden is more stately and sumptuous: in the central core of the building there is an atrium with porticoes and three arches on the ground floor. The first floor has a loggia crowned with an attic.In the period between 1758 and 1846, when the Dugnani family resided there, the building was one of the most well known in the city for parties and gatherings of noblemen. The Dugnani were a noble family who held important positions under the Visconti and the Sforza rules.
In 1863 the residence passed into the hands of the Municipality who placed the Natural History museum in its grounds and in 1895 the palazzo became the premises of the female civic school "Alessandro Manzoni". In the meantime the park was encompassed into the adjacent public gardens, nowadays known as the Giardini Montanelli.