I went to a modernist exhibit this weekend and there was a small section on petroleum architecture. I'm not sure why, but I found it incredibly inspiring. Pics after the j...
To read the rest of this blog entry from The Garage Journal, click here.
- Thread starter Ryan
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I went to a modernist exhibit this weekend and there was a small section on petroleum architecture. I'm not sure why, but I found it incredibly inspiring. Pics after the j...
To read the rest of this blog entry from The Garage Journal, click here.
ConCretin
Well-known member
I could happily live in any number of them.
HOTFR8
Banned
Is it the Art Deco design that attracts so many to admire these old buildings ?
Amitygravel
Well-known member
Such neat stuff.
Ryan , have you checked out the thread "old gas station pics" in the Garage Gallery ?
Ryan , have you checked out the thread "old gas station pics" in the Garage Gallery ?
Souljer
Well-known member
Hi,
Very cool and something that has always interested me.
There are a few out here that are worth the time and trouble of pix. I'll post up here if I get the time to take a few this week.
Very cool and something that has always interested me.
There are a few out here that are worth the time and trouble of pix. I'll post up here if I get the time to take a few this week.
bauschracing
Well-known member
Neat gas station display at the Henery Ford museum (sp?) in Detroit. Has a tanker and period correct cars. I think it is a Texaco station. Its been a few years since I worked in Detroit and my mind is not what it once was.
Mike
Mike
Tech Guy
Well-known member
Cool !
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I just watched an episode of "American Pickers" that featured a guy with an extensive collection of mid-century service station stuff who essentially built (or at least themed) part of his house around it. His rec room, for example, was a half-glass two story rotunda, with a checkered tile floor and huge wrap around STANDARD OIL sign as the mezzanine railing. Dotted here and there around the bar and pool table etc were an old ESSO pump, GOODYEAR signs, etc. Not quite the same as living in one (or a new 100% replica construction of one), but it was definitely a strong feature.
impala62
Member
Nice to see a dutch station as a first pictureI remember this one from when I was a kid.
In 1953 the architect Willem Marinus Dudok (1884-1974) designed this standard for a ESSO gas station. These buildings in the Netherlands were a familiar sight along the highway. This one stood at the junction of the A2 in Vinkeveen. This station had to disappear in 1994, when the highway was widened at that spot.
The former Autotron Rosmalen (car museum) got wind of the plans and after consultation with the Agency Monuments and ESSO they could move the concrete building in early 1995 to the car museum . That was not without problems. The expedition stranded in a snowstorm and the trailer that the building was transported on had to stand along the highway for the night. In 2004 it was moved to Raamsdonksveer, where the National Automobile Museum / Collection Louwman has taken over the collection of the Autotron.
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HotRodChef
Well-known member
Here's my favorite the Teague Texaco the coolest gas stations ever built...
The classic Texaco “ice box” gas stations, were white enamel over steel with three forest-green streamline stripes and a free-standing post bearing the red Texaco star logo on a white disk. These iconic American buildings were designed by Walter Dorwin Teague (also known for designing the Kodak Brownie camera and a host of other streamlined artifacts).
The classic Texaco “ice box” gas stations, were white enamel over steel with three forest-green streamline stripes and a free-standing post bearing the red Texaco star logo on a white disk. These iconic American buildings were designed by Walter Dorwin Teague (also known for designing the Kodak Brownie camera and a host of other streamlined artifacts).
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LegacyIndustrial
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Looks like the little gas stations they used to have with the Lionel train sets.
Neat.
Neat.
marty_p
Well-known member
There were so many beautiful lines and true architectural details in old filling stations that you just don't see in today's 'box world.' 
tncatadjuster
Well-known member
There is also a movement that was known as "Streamlining" that is used in many of the objects that are know as desirable.
When they took trains from smokestack steam engines, to looking like it's going 100 mph standing still" I was hooked.
Google "Streamlining" then hit the images tab....
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HOTFR8
Banned
tncatadjuster
Well-known member
HOTFR8
Banned
These two conform more to the topic as you could see them at one of these Garages.
Zeke
Well-known member
Nice, haven't seen one for years, not even in a museum. Welcome to the forums.
GOLF for LIFE
Well-known member
Here's my favorite the Teague Texaco the coolest gas stations ever built...
The classic Texaco “ice box” gas stations, were white enamel over steel with three forest-green streamline stripes and a free-standing post bearing the red Texaco star logo on a white disk. These iconic American buildings were designed by Walter Dorwin Teague (also known for designing the Kodak Brownie camera and a host of other streamlined artifacts).
Thanks for posting the Texico station, looks just like the one that I worked in back in the late 1960's in SO. Cal.
Zeke
Well-known member
Yep, I worked in one too. Just like that in Long Beach. I think there's one left without the canopy. It's a smog test place.
zman
Well-known member
zman
Well-known member
The pit goes all the way to just shy of the door, so no they don't take up the whole thing.
Souljer
Well-known member
...where do the stairs go? If it's just a pit it looks like the stairs would take up the whole thing.
Remember these were made and finished by an architect and/or their assistant; neither of whom was probably a mechanic who has actually stood in one of those and tried to do work.
However to the untrained it probably seemed like a practical solution although a folding step ladder might have been a better one.
Love the drawings though.
Thanks for posting them.
abstamaria
Well-known member
Thanks very much for starting the thread, Ryan. It's amazing that Impala62 was immediately able to identify one gas station.
The term "modern" is sometimes confusing, because of course it means "new." Most of the "modern" styles we enjoy date back to the 1920s and 1930s. We also use the term as meaning not of the traditional or classical style, but of course there are so many "modern" styles. Very confusing, but we tend to know what we mean and understand each other.
I think that essentially we have been talking about either art deco (decorative arts) or the international style. The Texaco shown above is probably art deco (the Chrysler Building in Manhattan is said to be a leading example). Art deco led into a branch called "Streamline Moderne," some examples of which we've also seen above. This to me is an interesting style, and I wish I had a property and a budget big enough to replicate exactly an art deco gas
station. It would make a great clubhouse for the local vintage car club.
My garage (in the confusingly named thread "Modern Garage in Far East") is international style. Straight lines, emphasis on volume rather mass, and no applied decoration. The Phillip Johnson House in Connecticut is a good example, but my favorite is van der Rohe's Farnsworth House in Illinois. In Europe, Villa Savoye is "international"; it has to my eyes some traces of art deco. LLWillysfan's fantastic garage, not completed yet but seen in his avatar above, seems to me to be international style. The international style is usually what most architects, at least here, call "modern." Or sometimes "classic modern."
There is a 3rd style - art nouveau, a more lavish style with whiplike curves. It is the bridge from neoclassical to art deco, which I think was influenced greatly by it. We sometimes don't consider this "modern" in GF as there seem to be no garages or stations in this style. Those Paris Metro entrances are art nouveau.
And finally a 4th "modern" style - the current architecture, such as those by Ando, Piano,
Foster, IM Pei, and so many others. For convenience, I call them "post modern." I love them too. In my next life, I want a house by Tadao Ando.
I don't quite know where Squankum's and Geologist's gas stations fit in!
As an aside, I have tended to attend meetings at the HSBC headquarters building in Hong Kong, by the architect Norman Foster. This is built like a Starship, with an exoskeleton and all steel and glass inside. It is very functional, and the feel to me is like being in a large aircraft. I imagine a space station would look like it. That would make a great design for a garage!
All of the above is from someone who just casually knows the subject, is probably mostly inaccurate, and posted to invite correction!
My best,
Andy
The term "modern" is sometimes confusing, because of course it means "new." Most of the "modern" styles we enjoy date back to the 1920s and 1930s. We also use the term as meaning not of the traditional or classical style, but of course there are so many "modern" styles. Very confusing, but we tend to know what we mean and understand each other.
I think that essentially we have been talking about either art deco (decorative arts) or the international style. The Texaco shown above is probably art deco (the Chrysler Building in Manhattan is said to be a leading example). Art deco led into a branch called "Streamline Moderne," some examples of which we've also seen above. This to me is an interesting style, and I wish I had a property and a budget big enough to replicate exactly an art deco gas
station. It would make a great clubhouse for the local vintage car club.
My garage (in the confusingly named thread "Modern Garage in Far East") is international style. Straight lines, emphasis on volume rather mass, and no applied decoration. The Phillip Johnson House in Connecticut is a good example, but my favorite is van der Rohe's Farnsworth House in Illinois. In Europe, Villa Savoye is "international"; it has to my eyes some traces of art deco. LLWillysfan's fantastic garage, not completed yet but seen in his avatar above, seems to me to be international style. The international style is usually what most architects, at least here, call "modern." Or sometimes "classic modern."
There is a 3rd style - art nouveau, a more lavish style with whiplike curves. It is the bridge from neoclassical to art deco, which I think was influenced greatly by it. We sometimes don't consider this "modern" in GF as there seem to be no garages or stations in this style. Those Paris Metro entrances are art nouveau.
And finally a 4th "modern" style - the current architecture, such as those by Ando, Piano,
Foster, IM Pei, and so many others. For convenience, I call them "post modern." I love them too. In my next life, I want a house by Tadao Ando.
I don't quite know where Squankum's and Geologist's gas stations fit in!
As an aside, I have tended to attend meetings at the HSBC headquarters building in Hong Kong, by the architect Norman Foster. This is built like a Starship, with an exoskeleton and all steel and glass inside. It is very functional, and the feel to me is like being in a large aircraft. I imagine a space station would look like it. That would make a great design for a garage!
All of the above is from someone who just casually knows the subject, is probably mostly inaccurate, and posted to invite correction!
My best,
Andy
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Bellicose
Well-known member
There is also a movement that was known as "Streamlining" that is used in many of the objects that are know as desirable.
When they took trains from smokestack steam engines, to looking like it's going 100 mph standing still" I was hooked.
Google "Streamlining" then hit the images tab....
I think you mean 'Streamline Moderne' when it comes to architecture.
I'm a HUGE fan of Art Deco & Streamline Moderne. I was born in the Art Deco capital of the southern hemisphere, Napier. New Zealand.
Jim_No_Garage
Well-known member
Damn you! Know I need to read another phone book sized novel by Ayn Rand.
My dream is to retire and find a cool looking commercial / retail building in small town america, move in and convert it to a studio / home.
Cheers
Jim
HOTFR8
Banned
Found this on the net today.
Agamemnon
Active member
Another style to look under is Googie
Type in "Googie gas station" in google images and enjoy.
Dennis Cavallino
Well-known member
+1
This one is the only Esso station from Dudok that is still used today. As you can see, it has been transformed into a Gulf station. It's located in the city of Groningen. It would be nice to restore it into an Esso station one day.
abstamaria
Well-known member
Art deco is a very interesting architectural style. I don't think that there are any garages here executed in that style. both for the building and the interior? Why is that?
Andres
Andres
ms fowler
Well-known member
That first Esso station, the one someone identified as "Dutch" looks exactly like the style of the Esso,later Exxon station that I first worked in. Thanks for posting.