The Mikkel Museum is located in the former kitchen building of Kadriorg Palace. The history of the building goes back to 1721, when the palace and park ensemble were founded in Kadriorg, together with the predecessor of the current museum building. In addition to the palace kitchen, the group of auxiliary buildings included an icehouse, a bread storage and a table linen storage. Of these historic buildings, only the icehouse next to the museum in Weizenbergi Street has been preserved.
A wooden building was built in the location of the current museum and was covered in plaster in 1754 after the plans of the palace construction master Johann Georg Teichert. The building was rebuilt in 1782 under the supervision of the palace architect Johann Schultz. Log walls were then replaced with sturdy stone walls, the building was elongated towards the hill and the windows were fitted with 24-square panes. In 1828, when the whole palace ensemble was reconstructed, the kitchen building also went through extensive renovation. Only the supporting walls were kept intact. The building got another storey and a wooden garret. The ground floor of the building contained a kitchen for cooking and baking, a separate room for making pastries and bread, and a dishwashing room. All stoves and fireplaces were covered with white glazed tiles. The garret contained seven simply fitted rooms.
In the early 20th century, the former kitchen building was made into offices and then into living quarters. During the Soviet era, the house contained municipal flats. In 1992, renovation work was started around the palace ensemble. Shortly before the renovation, there was a fire in the former kitchen building, which seriously damaged the stairs leading to the first floor and made almost all wooden structures in the house unusable. The garret was demolished and rebuilt based on measurements taken, while most historical details were replaced with copies. The locations of former fireplaces were marked in the pattern of the new limestone floor on the ground floor.
The building was adapted to the needs of a museum in 1995, when Johannes Mikkel donated the core of his art collection to the Art Museum of Estonia. The Mikkel Museum, which was refurbished in order to show the collection permanently in its entirety, opened to the public on 25 June 1997.
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