The Vandora Theater

The Vandora Theater was built in 1909 by the Vandora Amusement Company, and designed by architect Otto J. Boehmer. Boehmer, who was born in Warren County, Missouri in 1858, started his career at the building firm of Joseph B. Goesse & Frederick J. Remmers. In 1893 he started his own architecture and building company.

Joseph Van Raalte served as the president of the Vandora Amusement Company, operating the Vandora Theater at this location until 1918. In 1919 the theater was located across the street, at 2640 Cherokee Street, but it closed shortly thereafter. During the same year the architect William Wedemeyer altered the building to commercial use. Throughout the 1920s it was the home of a ladies' clothing store, and in the 1930s Barney's Army Goods Store. In 1939 Bernard Lincors Shoes moved into the building, remaining as a tenant until 1984. In 1940 Abraham H. Goodman opened a curtain store in one commercial storefront of the building. The store remained in operation throughout the 1940s, and the floor in front of the entrance still bears his name. Other residents included the Cherokee Outlet Store, which opened in the mid-1950s and closed in 1987.

The City of Little Bread, or the Black Bear Bakery, purchased the vacant Vandora Theater in 2004 and renovated the building applying the principles of sustainable design,



energy efficiency and re-use of the materials. The original floor, below the current wood floor, is raked upwards, a remnant of its original use as a theater. The incline of the floor is visible along the exterior wall of the building. The mezzanine over the entry originally held the moving picture projector.

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Show me all markers in:  St. Louis, MO  |  63118  |  Missouri  |  United States of America

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