Property Record
150 ELKHORN RD
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Arctic Circle Diner |
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| Other Name: | The Circle Inn |
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| Reference Number: | 81997 |
| Location (Address): | 150 ELKHORN RD |
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| County: | Walworth |
| City: | Williams Bay |
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| Year Built: | 1951 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19842019 |
| Historic Use: | restaurant/supper club |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
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| Wall Material: | Stucco |
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| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. 2019: This one-story restaurant building was built c.1950. It includes an original circular portion with stucco siding and a dome-shaped roof clad in asphalt shingles with a central turbine vent. Fenestration consists of original fixed and glass-block windows and an infilled door that served as the original building entrance. A c.1965 addition along the side (south) and rear (west) elevations of the original circular footprint was expanded in the late 1980s. The addition consists of two rectangular portions with side-gable and front-gable massing; fixed and replacement, vinyl, two-light, sliding windows; and secondary entrances on the side (north) and rear elevations; it is clad in stucco siding with half-timbering. The main, modern building entrance is a front-gable vestibule projecting from the building’s front (east) facade; it consists of a glass entry door and sidelight cased in aluminum. A wood ramp with wood railing leads to the entry vestibule and a modern concrete patio with wood post railings is located to the east of the original building. The interior layout of the building consists of a dining area, bar, and back kitchen with drop tile ceilings, vinyl chairs, and tile floors. The restaurant, formerly known as the Arctic Circle Diner due to its igloo shape, was built by Harold Stein. It was later sold to Albert and Ethyl Weith, who sold it to its current owners Daddy (Marshall) and Jeanette Maxwell in 1987. It is now operated as Daddy Maxwell’s Antarctic Circle Diner. __________ Once Americans took to the automobile, it was only a matter of time before the advent of the drive-in restaurant. In 1921, male servers at the “Pig Stands,” a chain of barbecue restaurants in Dallas, Texas, began claiming drive-up customers by jumping onto the running boards of their cars. By the 1950s, roller-skating female “carhops” took orders and hung meal trays on open car windows. Drive-ins also became gathering places for teenagers to show off their cars and flirt. Many family-friendly drive-ins frowned on the mobs of teenagers, who tended to place small orders and loiter for hours. But the Arctic Circle Diner (the name spoofed Wisconsin’s frigid winter weather) thrived for over a decade on a predominantly teenage clientele. Harold Stein built the diner around 1951 but soon sold it to Albert and Ethyl Weith, who encouraged the high-school set to hang out, eat steak sandwiches and frozen custard, listen to the latest hits on the juke box, and dance on the blacktop. Drive-ins often assumed whimsical shapes to capture passing motorists’ attention. Fittingly, the Arctic Circle looks like an igloo. Panels of ice (glass block) pierce curving snow-white (stucco) walls, which rise to a dome of stainless steel. An artificial penguin once stood at the corner, balancing a spinning ice cream cone on its bill. Today the Arctic Circle is a dine-in restaurant, but you can still see the windows where carhops placed orders and picked up trays. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. “Aerial Image, Walworth County, 1981,” Historic Aerials by NETROnline, accessed August 5, 2019, historicaerials.com; Kolb Land Consulting, Inc., “Plat Survey of 150 Elkhorn Road,” March 30, 1987, Walworth County, http://gisinfo.co.walworth.wi.us/IMS21/default.aspx?dockey=011%20-%20591%20%20%20&imgarea=SRV. Florence Roth, “Cool Chow in Igloo Eatery,” Janesville Gazette, May 28, 1988; Wisconsin Historical Society, “AHI No. 81997 - Arctic Circle Diner.” |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |