Opened in 1866, and the building was expanded and fully completed in 1907 according to the plans of its local architect, Karlo Klausner.

Designed in baroque style and exterior, it was damaged by the JNA during the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s, and has been extensively restored.

As a border town on the Drava, Osijek, or Esseg in German, had a developed middle class with a large number of Austrian military personnel.

In a regulation from May 1827, the Royal Hungarian Governorate in Ofen prohibited local schoolchildren from attending theater performances.

In the following decades, Croatina ensembles from Zagreb as well as Serbian ones from Novi Sad performed in the house.