If you thought gas stations were just dull, monotonous brick and mortar structures, think again. According to Helen Jones, an architectural historian, the architecture of gas stations has a wonderful aesthetic quietude about them.
Per Jones, petrol stations are the ultimate modern architectural buildings. They might appear unappealing to regular passersby but their architectural evolution extends far beyond the rudimentary columns, roof and shop.
There are over 100,000 petrol stations in the States but rarely turn the heads of cultural or architectural historians.
This is all the more depressing, because petrol stations undergo frequent transformations. Almost all the sites are owned by major oil companies and they revamp the architecture every decade or so.
Over the years, the typical American gas station architecture has seen its fair share of brutalist, Art Deco, modernist, minimalist and futurist designs. Take a look for yourself.
It all began in 1905
Early gas stations were built outside pharmacies, general stores, hardware shops and blacksmith shops with hand-operated fuel filling which dispensed kerosene and lamp oil.
The world gets its first drive-in gas station in 1913
Quite possibly the cornerstone of present-day petrol station architecture, the Auto Row in Pittsburg was world’s first drive-in fuel filling station.
The building architecture was complete with the distinctive canopy and spacious rows of dedicated fuel pumps.
1938: Era of the airplane styled service stations
1938 brought affordable automobiles to the affluent. Of course, the service stations had to match up to the game.
And what speaks better architectural expression than glamour? Take a look at this Fiat Tagliero station in the African country of Eritrea. Futurist design at the heart of Africa. Not too shabby!
The 1960s ushered in foundation architecture for modern day petrol filling stations
Perhaps the most emphatic contribution to modern day fuel station designs was by the Mobil employee Eliot Noyes.
He is attributed to over 20,000 gas filling buildings all around the world. They are characterized by refined designs and compact spaces.
Prior to this, the petrol stations were built in a more eclectic fashion with simple pumps being installed outside houses.
Rather than being a corporate monopoly, petrol stations were more of a domestic entrepreneurialism.
Their design was characterized by multifarious ad-hoc structures such as cottages, sheds, stables and outhouses which were wonderfully decorated with logos and commercial signs.
Evolution over the years
Without making significant changes to conventional gas station construction, the leading architects today continue making subtle renovations to existing trademarks.
For instance, world-renowned Foster & Partners recently experimented with the standard petrol canopies.
Instead of the traditional design, they created inverted pyramid canopy. These canopies are done in corporate colors and accentuate the Repsol trademark.
So the next time you stop for gas, step back to look beyond the simplistic building and take in the history of this not-so-ugly construction.
And if you’re at a party, we’re pretty sure no one else will have knowledge of the architecture of gas stations, so put it to use and impress the other guests.
CAD Evangelist. "Humble Beginnings: The Amazing Evolution of Gas Station Architecture" CAD Evangelist, Nov. 23, 2017, https://www.bluentcad.com/blog/architecture-of-gas-stations/.
CAD Evangelist. (2017, November 23). Humble Beginnings: The Amazing Evolution of Gas Station Architecture. Retrieved from https://www.bluentcad.com/blog/architecture-of-gas-stations/
CAD Evangelist. "Humble Beginnings: The Amazing Evolution of Gas Station Architecture" CAD Evangelist https://www.bluentcad.com/blog/architecture-of-gas-stations/ (accessed November 23, 2017 ).
copy citationcopied!
BluEnt delivers value engineered enterprise grade business solutions for enterprises and individuals as they navigate the ever-changing landscape of success. We harness multi-professional synergies to spur platforms and processes towards increased value with experience, collaboration and efficiency.
var wpdiscuzAjaxObj = {"wc_hide_replies_text":"Hide Replies","wc_show_replies_text":"View Replies","wc_msg_required_fields":"Please fill out required fields","wc_invalid_field":"Some of field value is invalid","wc_error_empty_text":"please fill out this field to comment","wc_error_url_text":"url is invalid","wc_error_email_text":"email address is invalid","wc_invalid_captcha":"Invalid Captcha Code","wc_login_to_vote":"You Must Be Logged In To Vote","wc_deny_voting_from_same_ip":"You are not allowed to vote for this comment","wc_self_vote":"You cannot vote for your comment","wc_vote_only_one_time":"You've already voted for this comment","wc_voting_error":"Voting Error","wc_comment_edit_not_possible":"Sorry, this comment is no longer possible to edit","wc_comment_not_updated":"Sorry, the comment was not updated","wc_comment_not_edited":"You've not made any changes","wc_msg_input_min_length":"Input is too short","wc_msg_input_max_length":"Input is too long","wc_spoiler_title":"Spoiler Title","wc_cannot_rate_again":"You cannot rate again","wc_not_allowed_to_rate":"You're not allowed to rate here","wc_follow_user":"Follow this user","wc_unfollow_user":"Unfollow this user","wc_follow_success":"You started following this comment author","wc_follow_canceled":"You stopped following this comment author.","wc_follow_email_confirm":"Please check your email and confirm the user following request.","wc_follow_email_confirm_fail":"Sorry, we couldn't send confirmation email.","wc_follow_login_to_follow":"Please login to follow users.","wc_follow_impossible":"We are sorry, but you can't follow this user.","wc_follow_not_added":"Following failed. Please try again later.","is_user_logged_in":"","commentListLoadType":"0","commentListUpdateType":"0","commentListUpdateTimer":"60","liveUpdateGuests":"0","wordpressThreadCommentsDepth":"2","wordpressIsPaginate":"","commentTextMaxLength":"0","replyTextMaxLength":"0","commentTextMinLength":"1","replyTextMinLength":"1","storeCommenterData":"100000","socialLoginAgreementCheckbox":"0","enableFbLogin":"0","fbUseOAuth2":"0","enableFbShare":"0","facebookAppID":"","facebookUseOAuth2":"0","enableGoogleLogin":"0","googleClientID":"","googleClientSecret":"","cookiehash":"7e5590bade760f306b53eac3289f57d6","isLoadOnlyParentComments":"0","scrollToComment":"1","commentFormView":"collapsed","enableDropAnimation":"1","isNativeAjaxEnabled":"1","enableBubble":"0","bubbleLiveUpdate":"0","bubbleHintTimeout":"45","bubbleHintHideTimeout":"10","cookieHideBubbleHint":"wpdiscuz_hide_bubble_hint","bubbleHintShowOnce":"1","bubbleHintCookieExpires":"7","bubbleShowNewCommentMessage":"1","bubbleLocation":"content_left","firstLoadWithAjax":"0","wc_copied_to_clipboard":"Copied to clipboard!","inlineFeedbackAttractionType":"blink","loadRichEditor":"1","wpDiscuzReCaptchaSK":"","wpDiscuzReCaptchaTheme":"light","wpDiscuzReCaptchaVersion":"2.0","wc_captcha_show_for_guest":"0","wc_captcha_show_for_members":"0","wpDiscuzIsShowOnSubscribeForm":"0","wmuEnabled":"0","wmuInput":"wmu_files","wmuMaxFileCount":"1","wmuMaxFileSize":"2097152","wmuPostMaxSize":"52428800","wmuIsLightbox":"0","wmuMimeTypes":{"jpg":"image\/jpeg","jpeg":"image\/jpeg","jpe":"image\/jpeg","gif":"image\/gif","png":"image\/png","bmp":"image\/bmp","tiff":"image\/tiff","tif":"image\/tiff","ico":"image\/x-icon"},"wmuPhraseConfirmDelete":"Are you sure you want to delete this attachment?","wmuPhraseNotAllowedFile":"Not allowed file type","wmuPhraseMaxFileCount":"Maximum number of uploaded files is 1","wmuPhraseMaxFileSize":"Maximum upload file size is 2MB","wmuPhrasePostMaxSize":"Maximum post size is 50MB","wmuPhraseDoingUpload":"Uploading in progress! Please wait.","msgEmptyFile":"File is empty. Please upload something more substantial. This error could also be caused by uploads being disabled in your php.ini or by post_max_size being defined as smaller than upload_max_filesize in php.ini.","msgPostIdNotExists":"Post ID not exists","msgUploadingNotAllowed":"Sorry, uploading not allowed for this post","msgPermissionDenied":"You do not have sufficient permissions to perform this action","wmuKeyImages":"images","wmuSingleImageWidth":"auto","wmuSingleImageHeight":"200","version":"7.6.17","wc_post_id":"3776","isCookiesEnabled":"1","loadLastCommentId":"0","dataFilterCallbacks":[],"phraseFilters":[],"scrollSize":"32","is_email_field_required":"1","url":"https:\/\/www.bluentcad.com\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php","customAjaxUrl":"https:\/\/www.bluentcad.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wpdiscuz\/utils\/ajax\/wpdiscuz-ajax.php","bubbleUpdateUrl":"https:\/\/www.bluentcad.com\/wp-json\/wpdiscuz\/v1\/update","restNonce":"ccab1e5fa5"};
var wpdiscuzUCObj = {"msgConfirmDeleteComment":"Are you sure you want to delete this comment?","msgConfirmCancelSubscription":"Are you sure you want to cancel this subscription?","msgConfirmCancelFollow":"Are you sure you want to cancel this follow?","additionalTab":"0"};
var wpdiscuzEditorOptions = {
modules: {
toolbar: "",
counter: {
uniqueID: "",
commentmaxcount : 0,
replymaxcount : 0,
commentmincount : 1,
replymincount : 1,
},
},
wc_be_the_first_text: "Be the First to Comment!",
wc_comment_join_text: "Join the discussion",
theme: 'snow',
debug: 'error'
};
var gform_i18n = {"datepicker":{"days":{"monday":"Mo","tuesday":"Tu","wednesday":"We","thursday":"Th","friday":"Fr","saturday":"Sa","sunday":"Su"},"months":{"january":"January","february":"February","march":"March","april":"April","may":"May","june":"June","july":"July","august":"August","september":"September","october":"October","november":"November","december":"December"},"firstDay":1,"iconText":"Select date"}};
var gf_legacy_multi = [];
var gform_gravityforms = {"strings":{"invalid_file_extension":"This type of file is not allowed. Must be one of the following:","delete_file":"Delete this file","in_progress":"in progress","file_exceeds_limit":"File exceeds size limit","illegal_extension":"This type of file is not allowed.","max_reached":"Maximum number of files reached","unknown_error":"There was a problem while saving the file on the server","currently_uploading":"Please wait for the uploading to complete","cancel":"Cancel","cancel_upload":"Cancel this upload","cancelled":"Cancelled"},"vars":{"images_url":"https:\/\/www.bluentcad.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/gravityforms\/images"}};
var gf_global = {"gf_currency_config":{"name":"U.S. Dollar","symbol_left":"$","symbol_right":"","symbol_padding":"","thousand_separator":",","decimal_separator":".","decimals":2,"code":"USD"},"base_url":"https:\/\/www.bluentcad.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/gravityforms","number_formats":[],"spinnerUrl":"https:\/\/www.bluentcad.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/gravityforms\/images\/spinner.svg","version_hash":"48f9880e98fac0afecf273a964277aef","strings":{"newRowAdded":"New row added.","rowRemoved":"Row removed","formSaved":"The form has been saved. The content contains the link to return and complete the form."}};
var gf_global = {"gf_currency_config":{"name":"U.S. Dollar","symbol_left":"$","symbol_right":"","symbol_padding":"","thousand_separator":",","decimal_separator":".","decimals":2,"code":"USD"},"base_url":"https:\/\/www.bluentcad.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/gravityforms","number_formats":[],"spinnerUrl":"https:\/\/www.bluentcad.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/gravityforms\/images\/spinner.svg","version_hash":"48f9880e98fac0afecf273a964277aef","strings":{"newRowAdded":"New row added.","rowRemoved":"Row removed","formSaved":"The form has been saved. The content contains the link to return and complete the form."}};
var gform_theme_config = {"common":{"form":{"honeypot":{"version_hash":"48f9880e98fac0afecf273a964277aef"}}},"hmr_dev":"","public_path":"https:\/\/www.bluentcad.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/gravityforms\/assets\/js\/dist\/"};
Details of Modern Ranch Style Open Floor Plans for Builders & Buyers 
How 3D Landscape Designs for Exteriors Can Elevate your Property’s Value 
British Architectural Styles: Adding Minimalist Modernism to Regal Residences 
Designing Net Zero Homes for Greener Tomorrow 