The Stanislavov Musical and Dramatic Society and the first theatre in Pokuttya were founded in 1878. After a decade of successful operation, the Society decided to build a theatre seat. Land for the construction on Mickiewicz Square was granted by the city council. Fundraising for the construction began, led by the Society's president at the time, Boleslaw Szameit. Six designs were submitted to the building committee, one of which was the design by Jan Sas-Zubrzycki, considered to be the most beautiful. However, in a locally organised competition, the design of local engineer Józef Łapicki (competition pseudonym - Witold Miłkowski) was accepted for implementation. In addition to Łapicki, the construction process was overseen by local builders Jan Szporek and Georg Schloss. Construction continued throughout 1891, resulting in Stanislawow's then only permanent theatre among provincial Galician towns. A year after its construction, the history of the Stanislavov theatre was written down in detail by the eminent bibliographer, critic, literary historian, theatrologist and publicist, creator of the Polish Bibliography, Karol Estreicher, becoming part of the history of the Polish theatre (see Theatre in Stanislavov, Karol Estreicher, Krakow 1892).

The body of the corner building with a cupola, consisting of two wings (with a frontal length of 67 metres), was laid out on the corner plot, probably under the influence of the Galician Savings Bank being built in Lviv at the time, which - as the work of Julian Zachariewicz - was in the tradition of the Neo-Renaissance. The façades of the theatre have a "frankly civic physiognomy", metaphorically stated the local journalist and writer Wladyslaw Ciesielski in his several-part study on the theatre's architecture. This probably meant a moderate variety and lack of sculptural splendour in the theatre's composition.

Either way, the theatre, with its corner dome and column portico, was the undoubted pride of cultural Stanislavov from the 1890s onwards. Since then, the town's orchestra, choir, music school, but above all the theatre and opera, glorified throughout the Habsburg Empire, operated under one roof. The theatre building also became an organic part of the city centre, organising the space around the square and the Mickiewicz monument between the old orthodox synagogue and kehillah and the progressive synagogue built a few years later (1895-1899), and between the Polish "Sokol" (1895) and the Adam Mickiewicz school.

During the First World War, between 1915 and 1916, fierce battles were fought over the town. The building was hit by several artillery shells and severely damaged. The wing on the side of today's Lesia Kurbas Street was more than half destroyed, the roof was punctured in many places and the wooden structures were damaged. After the war, a conservative restoration was carried out, with a temporary interior renovation in 1924. The need for reconstruction evolved over time into a project for a major rebuilding, with the aim of "adapting the edifice to the needs of the metropolitan theatre" of the Second Republic. A mortgage loan from Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego was obtained for this purpose; in addition to donations from the local community, a contribution campaign was launched throughout Poland. In the Second Republic the theatre changed its status: from an amateur theatre it was transformed into a professional theatre in the Lesser Poland named after Stanislaw Moniuszko, established to develop "its national and Polish cultural activities".

The project for the reconstruction of the theatre was made by Stanislav Trela, who at that time held the post of city builder in the building department of the Technical Department of the Stanislavov City Magistrate.

During the reconstruction (carried out in 1928-1929), although the outline of the building was preserved, its external appearance and interior design were completely changed. The theatre was stripped of its old appearance with traces of Viennese-Habsburg aesthetics. The result was a completely different building. Despite the fact that, as Wladyslaw Ciesielski wrote, "the solution to the plan was to make an architecturally beautiful tabernacle of art, while using only the most economical and necessary demolitions", the new façade of the theatre ultimately turned out to be too smooth. Its simplicity, especially in comparison to the original 1928 design, which was accepted for implementation, was due to a lack of funds.

Trela's original intention was to design a façade decorated with six massive Ionic semi-columns running the full height of the edifice and surrounding its rounded corner. The columns were to support a wide smooth frieze, a beam and a smooth attic ribbon repeating the form of the frieze and crowning the edifice. The elevations from Bielowskiego and Fredry Streets were to be embellished by the use of an arcade arch motif in the ground floor.

In the second version, adapted to the investor's financial possibilities, the architect proposed differentiating the height of the corner risalit and the side parts of the building: he raised the corner, thus emphasising the centre of the composition. To add variety to the smooth surface of the front wall, Trela introduced a long balcony surrounding the corner. He limited the modest decoration to vertical grooves flanking the central part of the plane, "sharply" in white plaster.

The interior decoration was largely realised according to the original design. To this day, they remain a repository of 1920s atmosphere, with distinctive touches of art déco style. The circular vestibule on either side of the elliptical hall housed the ticket offices, while three entrances led from the hall to the backstage area and two staircases with terraced staircases led to the upper floors. The stage was equipped with new iron lifts for decoration and other technical facilities, a curtain, dressing tables for artists with movable mirrors and washrooms. The cultural life of the city, enriched by a modern, comfortable facility, was opening up to new theatrical events. In the 1930s, the theatre's name was changed to the Pokucko-Podolsky Theatre.

The reconstruction and general renovation of the theatre building, now the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Philharmonic Hall, which is listed in the Register of Historical Monuments of Ukraine, was carried out in 2010-2011.

Location: Vul. Lesya Kurbas, 3, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine