Odessa received the right to build a theater in 1804 (becoming the third city with a theater in the Russian Empire), and in 1809 it was already erected. The author of this project was the French architect Thomas de Thomon, the author of a number of buildings in St. Petersburg.
On December 31, 1872, and on the night of January 2, 1873, the theater completely burned down due to the ignition of a gas burner that illuminated the clock at night.
To create a project for a new city theater was proposed to the Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner (German Ferdinand Fellner) and Hermann Helmer (German Hermann Helmer), whose designs were used to build theaters in many cities of Austria-Hungary (Vienna, Salzburg, Zagreb, etc.)
The new theater opened on October 1, 1887.