I attended college about three hours from my Iowa hometown. The trip home was a fairly boring, straight stretch on one highway surrounded mostly by cornfields and sprinkled with the occasional small town. Fortunately, I had friends headed in the same direction, so we often carpooled to break the monotony. Every trip, we pointed out two abandoned gas stations along the stretch. One of them amused us because graffiti artists had made the 1-story station’s boarded-up windows their favorite canvas. There was something new to read or critique each time we passed. The other gas station intrigued us because of its unique look; it essentially resembled a house and my friends and I thought it was adorable despite its state of disrepair.
As the years passed, somebody else saw the beauty in the latter gas station, which I now know was built in 1931 in the Tudor Revival style. It was beautifully restored and reopened as a cafe that serves homemade soups, sandwiches and nearly every kind of pie. Three antique gas pumps stand in front of the cafe, reminiscent of its original use. The building now is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
For obvious reasons, I couldn’t help but think of that gas station when Dundee Bank’s Blackstone Branch crossed my desk. In 2014, the bank purchased a 1930 Tudor Revival gas station in the Blackstone District of Omaha, Neb., to open a second branch. The bank’s leaders saw the building as a perfect opportunity to demonstrate their intention of helping to rehabilitate the neighborhood, which once was home to Omaha’s wealthiest residents. “It’s part of Dundee Bank’s mission and part of their brand to help preserve neighborhoods and make them stronger,” explains Bryan Zimmer, AIA, principal with AO*, the Omaha-based architect on the project. Read the story about the restoration of this unique gas station in “Transformation”.
Unfortunately, nobody saw the beauty in the 1-story graffiti-covered gas station along the stretch of highway from my college to hometown. I recently drove past and noticed only a concrete slab remains on the site. Until I saw what Princeton, N.J.-based Joshua Zinder Architecture + Design (JZA+D) was able to accomplish with a similar-looking 1930s modernist-style former Amoco station, I didn’t see the beauty in that graffiti-covered station either. Now I can’t help but think of the missed opportunities; you’ll see why in “Transformation”.
In the article, Joshua Zinder, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, and Mark A. Sullivan, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, write about the conversion of the gas station to the third location for Nomad Pizza: “One aspect of conversion that our team was most passionate and excited about was the notion of preserving and incorporating the structure’s original features. The bold lines, flat roofs and deep overhangs representative of the 1930s modernist style were just the beginning: The station’s three service bays invited our imaginations to run wild with possibilities.” I love how enthusiastic Zinder and Sullivan are about what others would likely call an eyesore.
These disparate gas stations are such beautiful reminders of the endless opportunities available across our nation—even along highways in the most utilitarian of structures—to celebrate buildings’ histories while upgrading them to meet our current and future needs. I’ll never look at another boarded-up gas station the same!