Originally, it was an entertainment venue built by Charles Blondel for the Ligue de l'enseignement on the location of the convent chapel of the Abbaye-aux-Bois.

[1] From October 1959 to May 1961, the théâtre Récamier serves as second room of the TNP directed by Jean Vilar and located at palais de Chaillot.

In December 1965, Louis Aragon set up there the soirée " Six poètes et une musique de maintenant " (Six poets and a music of our time)[2] in order to introduce new poets (Jacques Garelli, Pierre Lartigue, Jacques Roubaud, André Libérati, Maurice Régnaut and Bernard Vargaftig).

After the May 1968 events in France, the venue housed the compagnie Renaud-Barrault expelled from the Théâtre de l'Odéon.

In 2013, Roman Polanski draws inspiration from the settings for the shooting of his Venus in Fur.