In 1868, the city administration had taken a firm decision referring to the construction of the the city hall and the theatre. This decision was encouraged by the particular economic situation of the city which at that time was in full economic development. The building was built between the years 1872-1874. The Emperor Franz Josef I. participated at the unveiling of this building in 1874. Until World War II the theatre functioned with a section of prose and a musical one.
The building suffered under two major fires. After the fire of 1882 the building was reconstructed after the plans of the architect Andor Halmay. After the second fire in 1955 the theater went through some major changes: the main entrance was moved to the boulevard, the theatre hall was reduced and a studio was added on the second floor. The main entrance became sumptuous, over the six columns with Corinthian gorgerins, the tympanum with bas-reliefs made by Arad's very own Valeriu Brudaşcu, Ioan Tolan and Emil Vitroel was raised. In 1967, inside the theatre, a small theatre room was set up beginning with the year 1967, known to all the people from Arad as the Studio hall.
