Elizabeth Butcher, administrator at NIDA, discovered the derelict finger wharves at Walsh Bay and proposed that Pier 4/5 be restored and become STC's place of residence.

In keeping with the brief to do as inexpensive a conversion as possible, the government architects did a feasibility study which put the theatre at the Hickson Road end of The Wharf.

From the street a 200-metre wooden walkway lined with framed posters of STC productions takes patrons through the history of the theatre.

Approximately the size of 1.5 rugby fields, the Wharf cost $3.7 million to restore, and took the builders 56 weeks to refurbish.

[1] The theatre closed for renovations in 2018 and reopened in February 2021 for the performances of Kate Mulvany's adaptation of Ruth Park's Playing Beatie Bow.