The theatre was built between 1904 and 1906 by the famous Austrian architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer who designed several theatres and palaces across Europe in the late 19th century and early 20th century, including the theatres in Iaşi, Oradea, Timişoara and Chernivtsi (Romanian: Cernăuţi).
The project was financed using only private capital (Sandor Ujfalfy bequeathed his domains and estates from Szolnok-Doboka to the National Theatre Fund from Kolozsvár) .