Fill’er Up
Of all the
roadside structures erected during the golden age of two-lane highways, perhaps
the most significant was the gas station. Gas stations and their architecture
and design developed in a competitive market with the hopes of attracting the
consumer through brand association. Indeed, the architecture of the gas station
played a vital role in attracting the consumer.
Early 20th Century General Store. Typically, motorsists purchased 5 gallon cans of gasoline there.
Initially,
gasoline stations did not exist in the sense of featuring a curbside pump.
Rather, workers filled gasoline containers and later transferred the gasoline
to the automobile by hand. In 1905, a revolution took place in terms of
gasoline dispensing as the Shell Oil Company opened its first true filling
station in St. Louis, using a gravity-fed tank with a simple garden hose
attached. In a few short years, the development of pumps made possible the
first curbside stations. In their earliest years, these stations primarily
existed in front of groceries, hardware stores, and other commonly-frequented
businesses.
Following
the early success of the curbside pump, the gas station evolved into a
dedicated structure featuring a shed-like profile. The shed housed offices and
supplies, but this was anything but an aesthetically pleasing structure, and a
call went out by civic-minded citizens for a more pleasing building. In
response, houses developed as a compromise.
These
house-type stations, frequently prefabricated, were large enough to contain an
office, storage rooms, and restrooms. They were made of brick, stucco, and
galvanized steel, and thus were relatively easy to maintain. And they were very
much characteristic of the new gas stations of the 1920s. For example, in 1922,
more than 200 of the 1,841 Shell gas stations included common design aspects,
and these 200 stations accounted for 40 percent of Shell’s business.
During the
1920s the house and then the house with canopy style became popular. By 1925,
most gasoline stations were equipped with grease pits and car washing
facilities. These bays allowed the station to offer an increasing number of
services, mainly minor repairs. Thus stations added to their business, and the
filling station was transformed into a service station. Houses could easily be
adapted to accompany one or several bays.
The house
gas station design suggested a bond with the American family, and Pure Oil
Company capitalized on this notion. Pure designed a cottage-type station
complete with a chimney, a gabled roof, and flower boxes on the windows.
Perhaps the
most influential gas station design appeared on the scene during the Great
Depression. This design, called the oblong box, developed as companies searched
for functionality in station design. This layout gave the company the ability
to sell tires, batteries, and accessories, referred to as the TBA line.
Generally,
this design featured a flat roof, plate glass, and an inexpensive porcelain
enamel-looking facing. The design was a loose example of the International
style, inspired by Walter Gropius and his Bauhaus School in Germany after World
War I. Most notably, Walter Dorning Teague, a designer hired by the Texaco
Company, made the oblong box a feature found in virtually every corner of
American life. The Architectural Record reported
that Teague’s stations featured “certain primary functional requirements [that]
were obvious, such as trademark and color standardization, efficient layout for
sales and servicing, adequate office and restroom space.” In sum, the oblong
box design met the physical need of adapting a structure to a variety of lots
and the primary psychological needs of comfort and convenience to the customer.
The house and oblong box gas stations characterized one facet in the
development of roadside structures prior to World War II. Certainly the
appearance of tourist cabins and then motels would reflect another view of
changes in structures just beyond the highway.
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