Have a question about Philly’s neighborhoods or the systems that shape them? PlanPhilly reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send us a story idea you think we should cover.
The Circle Theatre in Frankford is now part of the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.
The former movie theater was built in the late 1920s on Frankford Avenue — steps from the Arrott Transit Center. Once one of hundreds of movie palaces across the city, the property is now among the “relatively few survivors with significant architectural integrity,” according to a nomination submitted to the Philadelphia Historical Commission, which designated the property on Friday.
The theater, which seated nearly 3,000 people, closed in 1953. Today, several storefronts occupy the first floor, with the building’s ornate terra-cotta facade rising above them.
Inside the Circle Theatre (Athenaeum of Philadelphia)
“While most neighborhood theaters probably had a pretty small geographic radius that people were coming from, the Circle was designed in this more flashy, elaborate style … and it was probably at least an attempt to get people to come from a little further away,” Ted Maust, a preservation planner at the historical commission, said.
The theater’s architects, Philadelphia-based Hoffman-Henon, were renowned for designing cinemas across the country and beyond, appearing in prominent trade publications for the motion picture industry.
Before their partnership, William Hoffman and Paul Henon were already acclaimed movie theater architects. And it made news when the two joined forces in 1919, with The Philadelphia Inquirer calling it “one of the biggest consolidations in architectural and engineering circles for some time,” according to the nomination.