The structure of the Olympia Theatre was created by John J. Callaghan, a well-known architect at the time, and first opened doors to the public on 22nd December 1879 as "Dan Lowrey's Star of Erin Music Hall." Dan Lowrey had been quite successful in the United Kingdom, where he ran several venues in the booming Music Hall Theatre sector. He decided, however, to make it his personal goal to bring this popular style of entertainment to Dublin. 

In 1881 it was renamed "Dan Lowrey's Music Hall" and "Dan Lowrey's Palace of Varieties" in 1889 by his son, Dan Lowrey Junior, who had taken over the business from his father.

The music hall underwent a major transformation in 1897 when it closed as a Music Hall and reopened as a theatre, "The Empire Palace". As the Lowrey family was no longer in charge, the character of the acts presented began to change. This "The Empire Palace" survived the Great War, the Easter Rising, and the breakup of the enormous Moss-Stoll theatre empire.

In 1923, the theatre was reborn and renamed The Olympia Theatre, providing drama, opera, ballet, as well as cinema, oratorio, and pantomime.

In the early 1960s, a group of London-Irish merchants purchased the building and the grounds on which the theatre stood, they wanted to demolish the building and replace it with an office building. While their application was being reviewed, Brendan Smith, a theatre producer in Dublin at the time, made contact with the new owners and secured a lease on the building, forming a new company called Olympia Productions Limited with fellow directors Jack Cruise, Lorcan Bourke, and Richard Hallinan, and Brendan Smith as Chairman.

This original lease was renewed and extended numerous times as the landlords pursued planning permission to demolish and redevelop the building until, eventually, the tenant company acquired an ongoing right of renewal, which protected the building as a theatre provided that the tenant company could continue to operate commercially. This thwarted the landlord owners' plans to demolish the structure and thus the Theatre survived.

Many world-famous stars from the theatre and cinema world have graced the Olympia stage over the years. Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Harry Lauder, Tyrone Power, Noel Coward, Alec Guinness, John Gielgud, Dame Edith Evans.
The stellar reputation of the Olympia Theatre is proven time & time again when world-famous acts request intimate shows here for their Irish fans.

The Olympia Theatre has a seating capacity of 1240 people on any one performance

Location:

Olympia Theatre
72 Dame St, 
Temple Bar, 
D02 K135

The Olympia Theatre is located just 20 minute's walk from the Castle Hotel.