The present building by Benjamin Dean Wyatt opened on October 10, 1812, for a committee led by Samuel Whitbread. It is the fourth theater on the site since 1663. The first, opened on May 7, 1663 for Thomas Killigrew, was a three-tiered wooden theater for about 700 people.
Henry Holland designed the theater of 1794, which burned on February 24, 1809. Gas lighting was extended to the stage in 1817, making the present building the first fully gaslit British theater. Samuel Beazley added a colonnade on Russell Street in 1831, and the interior was renovated into four tiers in 1922. The infobox gives a capacity of 1,996.
A £4 million restoration in 2013 returned the Rotunda, Royal Staircases and Grand Saloon to Regency style. Andrew Lloyd Webber bought the theater in 2000, and his company LW Theatres has owned and managed it since 2014. It has been Grade I listed since 1958.
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