Victoria Hotel

Built sometime after 1891, The Victoria Hotel at 201 Kaighn Avenue was open by 1908.

Julius Allendorf owned the building for many years. He was born in Philadelphia around 1867, the son of a brewer, also named Julius, and his wife Susan. The 1880 census shows the Allendorf family living at 3006 Stiles Street in Philadelphia. Young Julius was then working for a druggist.

The 1910 Pennsylvania census shows that Allendorf had married. He and wife Jennie were still living in Philadelphia, and his widowed mother Susan lived with them. By 1919 he had acquired the Victoria Hotel and moved in to the building. The 1920 Census shows that Julius Allendorf was living on premises with his wife Jennie and his mother Susan.

Alicemary McCue Pacella remembers her father bringing her to the Victoria in the 1940s and being served sodas by a Mrs. Campbell. The 1947 City Directory shows Mrs. Bertha Campbell living at and managing the Victoria Hotel.

Julius Allendorf appears to have lived at 201 Kaighn Avenue through at least the fall of 1956, as he is listed in the New Jersey Bell Telephone Directory for that year. He does not appear in the directory for 1959, although the Victoria Hotel itself is still listed. Mrs. Campbell, however is listed, and it appears she acquired or inherited the business, which she continued to operate at 201 Kaighn Avenue into the early 1960s. By 1966 the establishment was no longer listed in the telephone book. No trace of the building is evident today.

The Victoria Hotel, which I remember did have a bar. My Dad took me there to visit his friends from the old neighborhood and I was made quite a fuss over. I remember sitting at the bar drinking soda. (Is my memory improving or was the woman serving those sodas named Mrs. Campbell?).

— Alicemary McCue Pacella, July 2008