The company's theatre building opened in 1818 as the Royal Coburg and produced mostly popular melodramas. In 1833 it was redecorated and renamed the Royal Victoria and became popularly known as the Old Vic. Under the management (1880–1912) of Emma Cons, a social reformer, the Old Vic was transformed into a temperance amusement hall known as the Royal Victoria Hall and Coffee Tavern, where musical concerts and scenes from Shakespeare and opera were performed. Lilian Baylis (Baylis, Lilian Mary), Emma Cons's niece, assumed management of the theatre in 1912 and two years later presented the initial regular Shakespeare (Shakespeare, William) season. By 1918 the Old Vic was established as the only permanent Shakespearean theatre in London, and by 1923 all of Shakespeare's plays had been performed there. The Old Vic grew in stature during the 1920s and '30s under directors such as Andrew Leigh, Harcourt Williams, and Tyrone Guthrie (Guthrie, Sir Tyrone).

The Old Vic theatre building was badly damaged during World War II, and, when the company returned to London from wartime touring in 1944, it was housed in the New Theatre. Under the combined direction of Laurence Olivier (Olivier, Laurence, Baron Olivier of Brighton), Ralph Richardson (Richardson, Sir Ralph), and John Burrell, the Old Vic company presented memorable productions of Shakespeare's plays and other classics, including Cyrano de Bergerac, Oedipus Rex, Love for Love, and Peer Gynt. After World War II the Old Vic School and the Young Vic, a company that performed for children, were established and housed in the Old Vic theatre. The company returned to its repaired original home in 1950, but the lack of space and adequate funds caused the school and the Young Vic to close in 1952. In 1963 the Old Vic company was dissolved, and the Old Vic theatre became the temporary home of the new National Theatre. The Young Vic was reconstituted in 1970, and by 1974 it had become an independent company. The theatre building was home to the Prospect Theatre Company from 1977 to 1981. The Old Vic was refurbished in 1983 and used intermittently thereafter by various groups, including the Peter Hall Company in 1997.