ST. LOUIS • Famed in the 1940s as a club that featured black musicians, the Palladium in the Grand Center arts district was named Monday as one of the nation’s 11 most-endangered historic places.
Though lacking the grandeur of nearby Powell Hall and the Fox Theatre — both built years later — the long-vacant Palladium played a key role in the musical history of ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
The Palladium opened in 1914 as a roller rink and reached its zenith as a dance hall where Nat King Cole, the Mills Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter and others played to white audiences. During that era, the building was known as Club Plantation.
The Palladium, at 3618 Enright Avenue, is on this year’s most-endangered as determined by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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The annual list highlights examples of the nation’s architectural, cultural, historic, and natural heritage at risk of destruction or irreparable damage.
“The Palladium is one of the last remaining links to ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ important role as a center for African-American music in the 20th century,†Stephanie Meeks, the trust’s president, said in a statement. “Rather than demolishing this vital piece of America’s historic fabric, it should be restored to once again serve as a cultural center for the people of ºüÀêÊÓƵ.â€
Also on the list are a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in Tallahassee, Fla.; the Palisades in New Jersey, and the Music Hall in Cincinnati. The Washington-based trust is a nonprofit group that works to save historic places in the United States.
VA EYES BUILDING
The Palladium is across Enright from the John Cochran VA Hospital, which is planning a $430 million expansion. The agency has acquired property near the hospital and might buy more.
Gary Drikow, a project liaison for the VA, noted that the agency has purchased all the property in the 3600 block of Olive Street except for the Palladium and the adjacent Sweetie Pie’s banquet center. Hospital expansion is likely years away, but the VA is considering additional property purchases, Drikow said.
Bradford Stagner, whose family has owned the Palladium since 1966, said he has had “loose conversations†with the VA about his building. It still has the maple floor from its roller rink days, said Stagner, adding that its renovation would benefit the Grand Center entertainment district. Part of the Palladium’s cornice fell to the sidewalk early this year, but the building remains sound, he said.
Because the Palladium is not on the or within a city historic district, it is ineligible for historic preservation tax credits to help finance its restoration. No developer has stepped forward with a rescue plan.
The Palladium’s heyday was in the 1940s and early 1950s. By the 1940s, the roller rink had become Club Plantation, considered to be designed after New York’s famed Cotton Club. The ºüÀêÊÓƵ building later held a variety of bars but has been vacant since a thrift store closed nearly four years ago. “The best jazz in ºüÀêÊÓƵ could be heard in clubs such as the Plantation, which was segregated with white audiences and black performers, Cotton Club style,†Benjamin Cawthra, an associate professor of history at California State University, Fullerton, and author of “Blue Notes in Black and White: Photography and Jazz,†wrote in an email.
“These performance spaces eventually replaced the riverboats as main venues to hear jazz,†he said. “These places helped build a network of local gigs for working musicians during the heyday of the music in the city, which lasted roughly from the 1930s to the 1960s.â€
Jennifer Sandy, a National Trust senior field officer in Chicago, said her organization learned of the Palladium about six months ago when ºüÀêÊÓƵ preservationists nominated it for the trust’s annual most-endangered list. Sandy said she has viewed the Palladium and added that the list’s purpose is “to shine a spotlight†on important places worth saving.
Andrew Weil, executive director of the Landmarks Association of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, said the trust’s action confirms the Palladium’s national significance. “The listing could potentially be a great benefit,†he said.
Though suffering from years of neglect, the building “is not in any danger of tipping over,†Weil said.
The same cannot be said for the Castle Ballroom, another long-ago ºüÀêÊÓƵ club that featured jazz stars with national reputations. Empty for decades, much of the three-story building’s roof and west wall collapsed in November. The structure, at 2839 Olive Street, is in the final stage of demolition.
EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect address for the Palladium.