Palazzo Querini Dubois, also known as Palazzo Giustinian Querini, is an important Venetian building located in the San Polo district, whose main façade overlooks the Grand Canal and whose secondary façade overlooks the Rio delle Erbe. In the succession of buildings facing the Grand Canal, it is flanked by Palazzo Bernardo and Palazzo Grimani Marcello.
The original nucleus of the building was erected in the last years of the fifteenth century for the Zane family: it consisted of a ground floor, a main floor and two mezzanines. In 1560 it was completely restructured: on this occasion the second noble floor was built to make it a sumptuous representative residence. The building is owned by Poste Italiane, which renovated it during the 1980s. After hosting the headquarters of the Biennale, the building appears vacant after its conversion into a hotel was hypothesized.
The main facade is an excellent example of Venetian Renaissance
architecture, despite not having any monumental elements; the corners
are marked by decorations in Istrian stone. Typically tripartite, it has
a large and severe central water portal on the ground floor flanked by
two other side entrances. Above the mezzanine there are two main floors,
which correspond to two four-light windows, one in the Doric style and
the other in the Ionic style, numerous single-lancet windows and several
projecting balconies. The facade ends with a mezzanine attic. The
presence of a fresco decoration has been hypothesized.
The
secondary facade, with a very simple appearance, is interesting due to
the presence of an ogival water portal. The interiors show important
decorations such as stuccoes and wall frescoes. There is an internal
courtyard with a characteristic elongated shape, which connects the two
facades: Renaissance three-mullioned windows overlook it.