Charles J. Phipps designed the theatre for the actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree at an estimated cost of £55,000. It was his last work. The foundation stone was laid on July 16, 1896, and it opened on April 28, 1897.
The exterior is French Renaissance-inspired, with a Corinthian colonnade and square domes, and the article says stone was used throughout. W. H. Romaine-Walker, the consulting architect, designed the interior after the Royal Opera of Versailles. The stage was reputedly the first in Britain to be flat rather than raked.
Capacity is 1,216, down from 1,319 in 1897. The Phantom of the Opera premiered here on October 9, 1986. The theatre was listed Grade II* in 1970. LW Theatres operates it on a Crown Estate lease, though the article's ownership dates conflict.
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