Süreyya İlmen, a deputy for Istanbul, ordered the building from the Ottoman Armenian architect Kegham Kavafyan. Construction began in 1924, and it opened on March 6, 1927, as Süreyya Opereti, the first opera venue on the Asian side of Istanbul. In 1930 sound film equipment was installed and it became a cinema.
The Art Deco foyer was inspired by the Champs-Élysées Theatre in Paris. The stage is 46 feet wide, 33 feet deep and 16 feet high (14 by 10 by 4.9 meters), and there are 570 seats. A second-floor ballroom holds 500 guests.
İlmen donated the building in 1950 to the Darüşşafaka Association. It was rebuilt from 2006 to 2007 for about 14 million Turkish lira and reopened as an opera house on December 14, 2007.
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