Bubiai began to form as a manor at the end of 18th century when the Russian czarina Catherine the Great gifted Bubiai to her favorite Platon Zubov. After his death, the estate was inherited by his brother Dmitry Zubov and later his son Nikolay. The construction of Dubysa-Venta canal began in 1825. The construction of this complex’s hydrotechnical facility determined the economic growth of Bubiai. A small village grew into an economic center of the manor (folwark), a post road to Šiauliai was built as well as a bridge over Dubysa with an almost finished winter port. Unfortunately, the uprising of 1831 thwarted the completion of construction works. The rebels in Bubiai gathered their forces for the assault on Šiauliai. N. Zubov’s son Dmitry opened an elementary school, where children were taught in Lithuanian, and an orphanage with his own funds. During the reign of D. Zubov, Bubiai Manor shifted towards animal husbandry; livestock farming and dairy schools were established. The manor also had a sawmill, a brickyard, and a distillery. Bubiai Manor was an important cultural and economic center from the end of the 19th century until 1940.

Along with the palace built in 1908, the estate complex also contains a park, stables built in the 19th century and renovated in the 20th century, a granary, a gardener’s house, a guard house, a school, a teacher’s house, three farm-hand buildings, a barn, a silo, two hay barracks, a distillery, a spirit storage, an outbuilding, a house, a sawmill and the machinery in it.

One of the manor buildings was recently turned into a hotel.