After many changes to the interior of the Wren building (most significantly the Adam reconstruction of 1775), it was finally demolished in 1791 to make way for a new building. The architect (Henry Holland), seeing the coming move towards theatrical spectacle, designed a huge new theatre with double the capacity of the old one, which was unfortunately described by actors of the day as a “wilderness of a place”.

This theatre was destroyed by fire in 1809 and was replaced by the current structure, which was designed by Benjamin Wyatt and opened in 1812. Wyatt’s interior like Holland’s was not popular with the performers and the building underwent extensive remodeling in 1822 under the supervision of Samuel Beazley.

Since then there has only been one major remodeling project in 1911/2 when the auditorium was rebuilt by Walker, Jones and Cromie.