Palpatine's apartment suite

Palpatine's apartment was an expansive suite of rooms perched in the upper levels of the 500 Republica tower, a stepped building located in the old and prestigious Ambassadorial Sector of Galactic City. Although luxurious by common standards, Palpatine's apartment was still modest in comparison to the much larger penthouses in the top most levels of the building or the formidable palaces inhabited by certain other senators. The suite consisted of a reception room leading into the Royal Suite, from which Palpatine's personal quarters were located via a carefully guarded corridor. The primary reception room had access to exit turbolifts, and to a curving corridor leading to a soundproof ante-chamber to the main lounge area. This spacious room was located on the "corner" of one of 500 Republica's residential towers, and featured large windows on the two exterior walls, with a balcony running along the side of one wall. That balcony was equipped with a holoprojector, and it hosted secret meetings between Darth Sidious—Palpatine's Sith Lord alter ego—and his apprentice Darth Maul. In a busy, teeming ecumenopolis like Coruscant, there were innumerable balconies and corridors, which allowed the Sith to hide in plain sight.

Every room of Palpatine's quarters, from floor to ceiling, was decorated various shades of red—a color scheme that would later inspire the look of his Chancery office and his private chamber onboard the second Death Star. Even part of the furniture, including the armchairs of the reception area, was reddish-brown in hue. During his extensive traveling prior to his tenure as Naboo's representative, Palpatine had gathered many foreign art objects, and those were displayed in his apartments. His unusual decorating taste revealed that the senator had distanced himself from his culture, having adopted a more cosmopolitan point of view. The various objects and statues picked up on his travels seemed to hold great personal value for him. It was often noted that he would enter into a near-meditative contemplation of the form and alien beauty of his collection, and seemed to draw strength from them.

He also displayed several items given to him by his peers in the Galactic Senate. Senator Tikkes of Mon Calamari gave him three large pearls from the seas of his homeworld, held in the cup-like ends of polished, fossilized trumpet weed; Senator Baskol Yeesrim of Malastare offered an ornate, ceremonial Gran wind drum from an ancient spiritual era; and Triffian Senator Eelen Li bequeathed Palpatine with a near-prehistoric stone carving of one of her species.

During his time as a small-time politician, Palpatine maintained official quarters on his home planet of Naboo. He later relocated—with his collection of decorative items—to Coruscant upon being elected to serve as his homeworld's representative following the assassination of Senator Vidar Kim in 52 BBY. During his tenure as senator, Palpatine rarely allowed strangers in his sanctum; only his most trusted confidants were normally admitted there. It was in his apartments that Palpatine discussed the broadening of Naboo's horizons with King Ars Veruna prior to the latter's abdication in 33 BBY, and discussed the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo with his successor, Padmé Amidala, a few months later.

During the clandestine search for Queen Amidala in 32 BBY, Palpatine met with Darth Maul on the balcony of his quarters at night, with the hawk-bats shrieking overhead. Later meetings with his Sith apprentices would take place elsewhere, including a LiMerge Power building in The Works.

Palpatine retained his apartment suite upon becoming Supreme Chancellor, though he was afforded an office suite in the Republic Executive Building that boasted its own private chamber in which Palpatine could rest after particularly tiring days. It was from his 500 Republica apartment that General Grievous attempted to kidnap Palpatine during the Battle of Coruscant, though the Chancellor was rescued, briefly, by Jedi Shaak Ti and Stass Allie. During this struggle, Grievous smashed the window of Palpatine's apartment, and though it was presumably fixed, it is not known whether Palpatine retained his quarters upon becoming Emperor of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY.

Palpatine's chambers appeared in the 1999 movie Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. They were made red so as to reminisce the colors of the Emperor's Royal Guards, who were first seen in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi in 1983. That particular set, which was built on one of the soundstages of Leavesden Studios, was only completed the day before the shoot. The outsides of the apartment's windows were entirely covered with blue screens, which were replaced by a panoramic view of Galactic City.

• Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Episode I
• The Official Star Wars Fact File32
• Star Wars: Complete Locations
• Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary