Nomination Form
Built as a curb-service restaurant in 1947 in Portsmouth and later expanded, The Circle features a circle-shaped front façade with a neon sign on its roof. Designed in the Moderne style, which emphasizes curved surfaces and horizontal lines, the building’s original circular portion housed a main dining area and bar. A mural behind the bar, in the style of the era’s popular illustrator Al Hirschfeld, shows caricatures of celebrities from the mid-20th century. The Circle, a rare example of Moderne architecture in Portsmouth, reflects the surging popularity and importance of the automobile in American culture in the years immediately following World War II.
The Circle restaurant closed in 2008, and the building was demolished in August 2013.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Nomination Form
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia
