He built a palace for himself. Again, he spared no expense. The palace was more than twice the size of the temple, and was not just one building, but a series of buildings. Just one part of the palace, the House of the Forest, was bigger than the entire temple. Also, there was the Hall of Pillars, the Hall of the Throne, and homes for his wives. It took nearly twice as long to build the palace as it did to build the temple.

In addition to the temple and the palace, Solomon built many cities. Some of the cities had specific functions. There were cities for his cavalry, cities for his chariots, and cities for storage.