The Renaissance/Baroque-style theatre was inaugurated on July 28, 1920 with the start of the season of the "Grand Italian Opera Company of Adolfo Bracale" (Spanish: Gran Compañía de Opera Italiana de Adolfo Bracale), who performed Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida.

[5] Its façade displays three busts of the three most famous musicians in the history of classical music: Wagner, Beethoven and Liszt; The hall has neo-classical columns in the Ionic style and the spacious lobby is accessed through two imposing staircases, in the Louis XVI style, made of marble.

The newspaper El Comercio noted the following regarding the first night of the theater: It is a theater that satisfies the most demanding, beautiful, monumental, elegant, with severe elegance, comfortable and spacious; We have never had anything like it in Peru and it is one of the best theaters in South America.It was bought by the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima in 1929 and renamed to its current name through a Mayor's Resolution of June 15 of that year.

[7][8] The building remained unrestored for 12 years, opening only sporadically for special performances.

The theater was eventually reconstructed following its original structural design, and it was expanded to include additional parking, anti-seismic technology and updated fireproofing.