The Palazzo Foscari (known in Venice as Ca' Foscari) was built on the waterfront of Venice's Grand Canal circa 1452 by the Doge Francesco Foscari, who required its design to demonstrate his wealth and power. Ca' Foscari stands on a bend in the Grand Canal known as the 'Volta'; it is one of a trio of architecturally distinguished palazzi there, the other two being Ca' Balbi, built in 1590, and Ca' Giustinian built circa 1452.
Today, while Ca' Foscari has lost - through that decay which adds to the charm of modern Venice - much of its original splendour, its architectural merits are still a fine example of the florid Byzantine-inspired gothic architecture that distinguishes so many of the palazzi lining the Grand Canal built during the Renaissance period.
The piano nobile, the main reception floor, is distinguished by a large eight-arch loggia, that is doubled in the second piano nobile immediately above it. The tracery ornamentation of the columns and arches of the loggias are executed in the same quatrefoil gothic style as the loggias of both the Doge's Palace and Ca d'Oro. Each of the loggias is flanked by two ogee topped windows ornamented with the same design of tracery. This gives the palazzo a symmetry not common to all other palazzi of this period on the Grand Canal.
The building has had a troubled history: during the 19th-century Austrian occupation, it was used as a barrack. From this time the building has suffered successive neglect: nothing today remains of the opulent plaster and stucco work that once covered the exterior. Nor does anything remain of the ornate exterior staircases which once gave access to the piano nobile from the courtyard.
The palazzo, today housing the departments of economics and foreign languages of the University of Venice, underwent a restoration from 1997 to 2005.