 The Victoria Theatre, designed by Bertie Crewe, was built by The Broughton Theatres Syndicate Ltd, the same syndicate which controlled the Regent Theatre, Cross Lane, Salford (destroyed by fire in 1952).The building's foundation stone was laid on 4 October 1899 by the actor Sir Henry Irving.Accompanying Irving was Bram Stoker, also in attendance were Bertie Crewe, the Civic Mayor of Salford Samuel Rudman, Frederick Platt-Higgins (Conservative MP for Salford North), C. V. Haworth (chairman of the syndicate), a large number of the members from the Salford Corporation, and former Civic Mayors of Salford Sir W. H. Bailey and Sir Richard Mottram.