After the transfer of the Duchy of Nassau to Prussia, the call for a larger and more magnificent theater building became louder and louder, especially by Kaiser Wilhelm II. The new building was to be erected on the site between the southern colonnade and the Warme Damm. In May 1892, in the midst of the building preparations, the Minister of the Royal Household in Berlin announced that the administration of the court theaters in Kassel, Hanover and Wiesbaden would be given up and placed in municipal hands. For Wiesbaden, this meant a reduction in the previous annual subsidy of 240,000 to 25,000 marks, the rent for the Imperial Lodge. Nevertheless, the municipal committees decided to build the theater according to the plans of architects Fellner & Helmer, who specialized in building theaters. The new Royal Court Theatre, a late historicist building in Renaissance and Baroque style, was completed in just two years and opened on 16.10.1894 in the presence of the Emperor.

Contemporaries appreciated the consideration for and skillful integration into the classical ambience. This was achieved by Fellner & Helmer creating a relatively modest façade for the main entrance facing Bowling Green and instead designing the rear façade facing Warme Damm as a magnificent display façade. Furthermore, the rich architectural decoration and the exact adherence to the fire regulations from 1889 were expressly praised. For example, the French windows leading to the balcony on the west side around the stalls and the two staircases and numerous doors allow the building to be evacuated quickly in the event of a fire. The iron curtain between the stage house and the auditorium prevented a fire destroying the stage house from spreading to the auditorium in 1923.

In 1902, the theater was extended according to plans by the city architect Felix Genzmer. In the corner between the theater colonnade and the east side of the auditorium, he built not only a painter's hall and a practice stage, but also the magnificent foyer in the neo-baroque style. The ceiling painting by Kaspar Kögler has been preserved in its original form in the opulent interior, which is predominantly decorated in the rococo style. Today, the foyer is enclosed by the 1970s extension.

The colonnade, entrance area, vestibule and auditorium of the theater were severely damaged during the night of the bombing on February 2 and 3, 1945 and by artillery fire in March 1945. Kögler's two ceiling paintings in the auditorium, the depictions of the "Unleashed, Floating Fantasy" above the stage opening and an "Allegory of the City of Wiesbaden" above the center of the room, were also destroyed. In 1977/78, they were recreated by the Würzburg painter Wolfgang Lenz (1925-2014) based on old models. The imaginative painting of the new iron curtain was also created by Lenz.

In 1974-78, the theater received an urgently needed extension, which housed a rehearsal stage, the administration, magazines and workshops, among other things. The extension was built according to plans by Hardt-Waltherr Hämer and is nevertheless indebted to the 1970s in terms of materials (concrete, glass, lead) and despite its design, which takes the old building into consideration. During the same period, the facades of the old building were completely renovated and the historic interiors were extensively restored. The historic interiors were extensively restored.

The first director of the newly built Royal Theatre, Georg von Hülsen, attracted an international audience to Wiesbaden with the Imperial Festival, which was held for the first time in 1896, with first-class singers and magnificent sets. Of his productions, Carl Maria von Weber's opera "Oberon" was particularly popular with audiences until 1923. Kurt von Mutzenbecher became artistic director in 1903.

After the revolution in November 1918, an artists' council was formed, which elected Ernst Legal as director of the "Nassauisches Landestheater". In 1920, Prussia took over the house as a "state theater". Director Carl Hagemann introduced modern stage practice and expanded the repertoire. On March 18, 1923, a fire broke out in the theater, destroying the stage house and decorations, especially for "Oberon". The reopening took place on 20.12.1923 with Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin". In 1927, Paul Bekker became artistic director, bringing opera premieres by Ferruccio Busoni and Darius Milhaud to Wiesbaden and reviving the May Festival with artistic objectives. Anti-Semitic hostility made his work more difficult. When the city took over the theater as the "Nassauisches Landestheater" in 1932, Bekker's contract was not renewed.

In 1935, the theater was brought into line as the "Deutsches Theater", closed on 01.09.1944 like all German theaters and severely damaged in the bombing raid on 02.02.1945. The American occupation confiscated it for use by the troops. The "Emergency Community of Members of the Deutsches Theater" resumed operations on 2 August 1945; performances were held in the Catholic journeymen's house, the Kolpinghaus, in Dotzheimer Straße. On 01.09.1946, Wiesbaden and the state of Hesse founded the "Großhessisches Staatstheater". Otto Henning became artistic director, Karl Heinz Stroux director of drama. The Kolpinghaus and the Walhalla Theater served as alternative stages. The reopening of the Großes Haus with Verdi's "Aida" took place on 17.09.1947.

In 1949, Heinrich Köhler-Helffrich became artistic director, adding contemporary operas and plays to the program and founding the International May Festival in 1950. On December 28, 1950, the new Kleines Haus was opened. Later, the Studio for plays with small casts or experiments was added as a third stage. The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden became a three-section house with opera, ballet and drama. Under the directors Friedrich Schramm, Claus Helmut Drese and Alfred Erich Sistig, there were individual productions that drew on the forward-looking impulses of the Weimar Republic. For example, "The Persecution and Murder of Jean Paul Marat" by Peter Weiss (1964) and Schiller's "William Tell" (1965) in productions by theater director Hansgünther Heyme caused heated debates and national interest.

After the extension and general refurbishment of the theater began in 1975 and performances had to be staged in alternative venues, the management of the theater with artistic director Peter Ebert and theater director Horst Siede attempted a radical renewal in the spirit of 1968. With the music theater stage in the Walhalla, the theater had moved closer to the potential audience than in the spa district. Attracting new audiences was a declared goal that was achieved for the drama in the "Theater im Park". By contrast, some traditional audiences stayed away. Ebert was accused of political indoctrination and poor management. He resigned in 1977. On May 13, 1978, the Grosses Haus reopened with Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg".

Controversial productions were staged under the artistic director Christoph Groszer, while theater director Alois Michael Heigl continued the socially critical approach in a less spectacular manner. However, Groszer's opera productions were conventional. Claus Leininger cautiously set new accents as artistic director in 1986-94, including the musik-theater-werkstatt under Carla Henius and the Jugend-Club-Theater. Achim Thorwald, artistic director 1996-2002, introduced the "Young State Theater" as a fourth section.

2002-14 Manfred Beilharz directed the Hessian State Theater Wiesbaden. He took over the Wartburg as a fourth venue. He continued the theater biennial "New Plays from Europe", which he founded in Bonn, in Wiesbaden. He also founded the Hessian State Theatre's youth department (Theaterwerkstatt) under the direction of Priska Janssens, which received the Cultural Award of the State Capital of Wiesbaden in 2014 for its theater education work.

Uwe Eric Laufenberg has been the theater's artistic director since the 2014/15 season. The "Hessisches Staatsballett Darmstadt/Wiesbaden" was founded in the 2014/15 season.