Undaunted by the failure of his father's massive Olympia Theatre, which Willie Hammerstein managed, he quickly secured the necessary funds to build the Victoria, purportedly named so in honor of his victory over his enemies.

Due to budgetary constraints, the building crew was forced to take several cost-saving measures: the walls were filled with debris from the site’s demolished structure, Gilley Moore’s Market Stables; once erected, the plastered walls remained largely unadorned; and second-hand theatre seats lined the rows of the house.

[5] Despite the shortcuts, the press warmly greeted the grand opening; The New York Times deemed the décor “warm and comfortable,” free of anything “grotesque.”[3] A three-act burletta titled The Reign of Error, featuring the comedy duo of the Rogers Brothers, christened the new stage[3] and ran for at least fifty performances.

Willie took the drastic measure of turning the Victoria from legitimate theatre to vaudeville, and over the succeeding years, his risk proved tremendously profitable.

Hammerstein's bore the distinction of being one of the few vaudeville houses in the city to operate independently of the virtual monopoly that B. F. Keith and E. F. Albee enjoyed.