Virginia Theatre
5117 Virginia Avenue,
St. Louis,
MO
63111
5117 Virginia Avenue,
St. Louis,
MO
63111
1 person
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The Virginia Theatre was a well-maintained and lovely neighborhood house.
It was built in 1910 for August A. Busch as a vaudeville and movie house at Y-shaped intersection. The Virginia Theatre was acquired by the Wehrenberg chain in 1928. It has a small lobby and the auditorium fanned out because of the intersection that it was built on.
Towards the end, the Virginia Theatre started closing on Mondays and later was open on weekends only. It was within walking distance of the Michigan Theatre, which also was part of the Wehrenberg chain. The Virginia Theatre closed on May 12, 1956. It later became home to a church, and remained in that use as a church until mid-2012.
Contributed by
Charles Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
Isn’t 1910 a little early? Fred Wehrenberg opened his first theatre in an empty storefront next to his saloon/grocery in 1906.
Thanks for the history. But when you talk about the South Hampton/Roxy are you still talking about the Virginia?
Theatre opened with vaudeville and films in 1910.
Building permit lists owner as August A. Busch (Anheuser-Busch).
Architect the firm of Klipstein & Rathman.
Wehrenberg took over theatre in 1928.
Here is a recent photo of the church located in this former theater.
In the previous picture, there are two small homes directly across the street (Vermont Ave) just off the right side of the picture. A life long friend grew up there before moving to Colorado in the 60’s. His dad was born in one of those houses and still lives in the other one which he built in the 40’s. The interesting thing is that my friend’s Mom and Dad STILL live there. She’s 89 and he’s 97… born in 1910, the same year the theatre was built!
This is a color photo from 2000.
The style reminds me of theaters in the UK. The Westend must have been an early theater. I don’t have a listing for it. You should add it.
The goole maps show the building still there although in much better condition than the 2000 photo above. Looks like the church did some renovations!
I passed by there last week and it isn’t a church anymore. It’s empty.