The German inhabitants of Ljubljana, members of the Deutscher Theaterverein Laibach Society, established a fund for the construction of their theatre in 1894 with the help of the Kranjska hranilnica savings bank. The building was designed by the Viennese architect Alexander Graf (1856–1931). On 4 October 1911 the Emperor Franz Joseph Jubilee Theatre, or the German Theatre in Ljubljana was opened with Wagner’s Kaisermarsch and the staging of Habsburg by Alfred Berger.

After the First World War, the building was given over to the Slovenian Theatre Consortium and the theatre was renamed the National Theatre in Ljubljana – Drama. The first performance in the Slovenian language presented there was Tugomer by Josip Jurčič and Fran Levstik.

In 1967, functionally designed annexes were added to the building on the either side of the fly tower according to the plans of the architect Dušan Medved.

In 1996, the architect Majda Planišček, in collaboration with the architect and set designer Meta Hočevar, proposed the extension of the building, especially in the underground area, and the expansion of the annexes alongside the stage. The plan was never materialized.

In 2014, the Slovenia Ministry of Culture issued new directions for the reconstruction of the dilapidated SNT Drama Ljubljana building.

In 2016, a public, anonymous, open, two-stage project competition was launched to select the most appropriate solution and the selection of the author of project documentation for the complete renovation of the SNT Drama Ljubljana.

In June 2017, the competition was won by Bevk Perović arhitekti, d. o. o.