It was the focus of federal raids during Prohibition. It's connected to a song included in an influential folk music anthology. It's one of the few examples of work done by architect Franklin Ellerbe in his hometown.
Those facts have earned the Victoria Theater in St. Paul a shot at being designated a "heritage preservation site" by the city.
The St. Paul Heritage Preservation Commission recently approved a recommendation that the City Council give the 95-year-old building at 825 W. University Av. the historical designation.
The council is expected to take up the issue later this month, said Amy Spong, the city's preservation specialist. The last time the city designated a heritage preservation site was in 2005.
The building, built in 1915, was designed by Ellerbe, who founded a firm that rose to be among the largest architectural firms in the United States. The building has a brick-and-terracotta facade in the Beaux Arts style. Its original screen and projection room are intact.
Over its life, the building featured silent movies, food, music, dancing and light fixtures.
Its role in American music has been fleshed out in recent years. As part of the first commercial-label recording sessions in the Upper Midwest, the Victoria Cafe's house orchestra recorded "Moonshiner's Dance" for Gennett Records, according to a city report. The theater had been renamed the Victoria Cafe and provided cabaret-style entertainment. That song, recorded in 1927, was included in the influential "Anthology of American Folk Music." The 84-song anthology has been cited as a major influence on the folk music revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
About a year ago, there was a plan to tear the building down and turn it into a parking lot, but that got folks in the neighborhood riled up. The deal was scrubbed, and a campaign began to preserve the theater, which finds itself a block from a proposed Central Corridor light-rail line station.
