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Avalon Music
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Avalon Music
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Location	301 North Broadway, Rochester, Minnesota
Coordinates	44°1′35″N 92°27′48″W / 44.02639°N 92.46333°W / 44.02639; -92.46333
Built	1919
Architect	Ellerbe Architects
NRHP reference No.	82002992
Added to NRHP	March 19, 1982

Avalon Music is an historic three-story red brick building in Rochester, Minnesota. It opened in 1919 as the Northwestern Hotel. The Sam Sternberg family operated it as a kosher restaurant and hotel for Jewish travelers, including many visitors to the nearby Mayo Clinic.

In 1944, Vern Manning bought it and renamed it the Avalon Hotel. As the only hotel in the area which welcomed African Americans before desegregation, its guests included Duke Ellington and boxer Henry Armstrong. It housed the Avalon Café, one of two restaurants in the city which served people of color. It became a local focus of the Civil Rights Movement and opposition to it; both a march for racial equality and a cross burning occurred at the property on August 23, 1963.

After renovation in 1987, the property became Hamilton Music with studios and a store for musical instruments and audio equipment. In 2008, the building changed ownership and became Avalon Music to reflect its history. An expansion project was started in 2018 to turn the building into a restaurant, office space, and apartments.

Notes

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. Savage 1994: 123
3. ^ St Mane 2003: 290
4. Bluhm, Matthew; Bartholdi, Maria (January 2012). "The Avalon Hotel - Paving the way for racial equality in Rochester". Rochester Women Magazine. Rochester, Minnesota. Archived from the original on 2016-03-01. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
5. Kiger, Jeff (December 12, 2018). "European café to anchor renovation of historic Rochester building". Post-Bulletin. Rochester, Minnesota.

References

• St Mane, Ted (2003). Rochester, Minnesota. Arcadia. ISBN 0-7385-3150-2.

• Savage, Beth L.; Shull, Carol D. (1994). African American Historic Places. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0-471-14345-6.

• African-American history of Minnesota
• Buildings and structures in Rochester, Minnesota
• Hotel buildings completed in 1919
• Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota
• National Register of Historic Places in Olmsted County, Minnesota