"O solar sobre o cal se levanta o Pazo de Raxoi, estaba ocupado anteriormente polos cárceres civil e o eclesiástico da cidade e máis un tramo da muralla, que defendía a urbe pola parte de poñente. A dobre propiedade sobre o predio orixinou discordancias entre o Bispado e o Concello. Este presentou un proxecto en 1764, da autoría de Lucas Ferro Caaveiro, coa idea de radicar a Casa do Concello entre ambos cárceres. Polo súa banda, o arcebispo, Bartolomé de Raxoi, tiña en mente colocar aí o Seminario denominado de Confesores e mais a residencia para os nenos do coro catedralicio, para o que presentaba un proxecto diferente, encargado a Andrés García de Quiñones. Porén, ademais da controversia entre os copropietarios, xurdiu unha terceira parte interesada, o Hospital Real, alegando que se atentaba contra a súa propiedade. O litixio conseguinte levou á intervención da Capitanía Xeneral de Galiza e mais da Real Cámara, resolvéndose, finalmente, de xeito salomónico, no 13 de maio de 1767, que o e futuro edificio albergase o Consistorio compostelán, o Seminario de Confesores e máis os cárceres, consonte ao proxecto do enxeñeiro Carlos Lemaur, segundo se propuxera pola devandita Capitanía Xeneral.
De acordo coa anterior resolución, o edificio foi construído segundo as trazas de Lemaur, sendo dirixidas as obras por frei Manuel de los Mártires, e como executores reais polos mestres Juan López Freire e Alberte Ricoy, e, segundo a inscrición que figura no friso do mesmo pazo, as obras tiveron lugar entre 1766 e 1772.
O pazo contribuíu a realzar a praza do Obradoiro, que carecía dun edificio digno nese lado, máxime cando facía poucos anos que se rematara a nova fachada occidental da sé compostelá."
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"The Rajoy palace is a long and elegant four storey granite building that faces Santiago Palacio de Rajoy cathedral on the Obradioro square. The entire ground level has an arched walkway running along its length and although uniform in appearance has a central columned and capped feature plus two slightly less exuberant elements of detailing on either side. It was designed by Charles Lemaur, a Frenchman and is distinctly neo-classic in appearance. The large triangular central feature is of particular interest as it depicts the apostle, Saint James, when he was said to have appeared at the "battle of Clavijo" to demonstrate his support of the Spanish.
Today the Rajoy palace is the town hall and also the parliament building for Galicia's regional government known as the Xunta, but it was built in the eighteenth century with The Rajoy Palace religious uses in mind. It takes its name "Rajoy", from the Bishop who instigated its construction and originally had a variety of uses, most of which were ecclesiastical. First and probably foremost, it was a residence for numerous groupings of cathedral staff including choristers and the many priests who took confessions from the visiting pilgrims. It is believed that many of these priests were bilingual so as to understand the "declarations of guilt" of the numerous foreign pilgrims and this led to them becoming known "lenguajeros".
Other uses of the building have included its past and current status as the town hall and it has also doubled as a prison. Today it represents an accomplished example of Galicia's architectural heritage and is one of the four key-stone buildings on the Obradioro plaza. Above, the statue of St. James mounted on a horse at the battle of Clavijo."
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