Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 05/05/1970
Delisted from VLR on 03/19/1997
The Crawford House Hotel was erected in 1835 and was named in honor of William Crawford, the founder of the city of Portsmouth. The four-and-a-half-story brick building was not only Portsmouth’s first hotel, but for a time was its tallest building as well. The impressive establishment quickly gained a reputation for being “the most fashionable place in Portsmouth” and it entertained four presidents in the mid-19th century. The Crawford House Hotel was a rare surviving example of early urban hotels, successors to the country inns and taverns. A victim of urban renewal, the building was torn down in July of 1970, two months after its listing in the Virginia Landmarks Register.
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
Updated: December 6, 2022
