The King's Theatre was built in 1905 by Edinburgh builder, William Stewart Cruikshank. The foundation stone was laid by Andrew Carnegie and it was opened in 1906 and managed by his son A Stewart Cruikshank. Initially the programming of the theatre was undertaken under contract by Howard & Wyndham and A Stewart Cruikshank became a Director (and in 1928 Managing Director) of this company which managed a chain of theatres in Britain rivalling Moss Empires. JB Howard and Fred Wyndham founded the company in 1883 when they built the Royal Lyceum Theatre both having trained in Edinburgh under William Murray at the Theatre Royal.

The King's Theatre became the headquarters of Howard & Wyndham and they held their board meetings there and famously their AGM on Christmas Eve which guaranteed minimal interference from shareholders. After Stewart Cruikshank retired, his son Stewart inherited the Managing Directorship. Howard and Wyndham had sold the Royal Lyceum Theatre to Edinburgh Council in 1965 and after (son) Stewart Cruikshank's death in 1966 a similar deal was done with the King's Theatre. The Royal Lyceum was subsequently managed by a Trust but the local authority managed the King's Theatre until July 1998 when the operation merged with the Festival Theatre and both Theatres are now managed by Festival City Theatres Trust.

The Theatre originally had Stalls and three circles - Dress, Family and Gallery. The Gallery was uncomfortable and latterly unsafe and was removed in the fifties reducing the Theatre to three levels with additional seating at the back of what is now called the Upper Circle. The present seating capacity is 1350. The interior décor is very ornate with nine boxes either side of the proscenium and there are fine examples of Edwardian stained glass in the foyer doors. The present Upper Circle bar area in the front of house was originally a Billiard Room and there were shops either side of the entrance at street level. A major refurbishment was undertaken in the mid 1980s when new seating was installed at every level.