The original plan for the Public Garden was to make it a private oasis, not accessible to the general public. It was designed in 1833 as the garden of the adjacent Palace of St. Michael and St. George. The palace was the residence of the British Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, and the garden was reserved for the benefit of the commissioner and the nobles of Corfu. After Corfu joined Greece in 1864, the residence became home to the Greek royal family.