Built St. Louis > > Midtown > > Sun Theater

The Sun Theater stands across the street from the Grandell Theater. It was built as the Victoria in 1913. It has had a troubled history; its original purpose, to host plays in German, was rendered obsolete by anti-Germanic sentiment in World War I. A conversion to a movie palace was equally short lived, as it could not compete with the more ornate houses further south.

The building cycled through runs as a burlesque house, a jazz club, a movie theater, and a church; it was known at various times as the Liberty (a painted sign is still visible on the side wall), the World, the Lyn, and finally the Sun -- the latter because the sign was easily changed from "Lyn".

Currently its future is in some debate; options include restoration, or relocating the building's facade next to Powell Symphony Hall and constructing a new theater behind it.

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