HighBeam Research

Title: Filling station a roadway to style of past

Date: April 26, 1999 Publication: Chicago Sun-Times Author: Lee Bey

If any place has lost its sense of romance and adventure, it's the gas station.

Many of them used to be stylish little joints. Some looked like villas andbungalows. Designers of postwar gas stations often experimented withswooping roof lines - the late George W. Terp Jr.'s marvelous 1971 Amocostation at Clark and La Salle comes to mind - and glass curtain walls. The oldstations were worth driving to in their own right.

What have we now? Today's gas stations are efficient at putting out gas andextracting money, but their design is soulless. Get your gas, get your gumand go. Meanwhile, old stations are being demolished by the score. But aChatham neighborhood resident and state preservation officials are seekingto save a 71-year-old gas station at 419 E. 83rd by getting it placed on theNational Register of Historic Places. The shuttered and battered gas station,which was built to match the architecture of the Chatham neighborhood, isone of the few remaining "domestic style" stations in the city. "It's very rareto see a 1920s gas station, period," said David Newton, the Illinois HistoricPreservation Agency's assistant National Register coordinator. "It's veryamazing, I think." Gas stations began simply enough. Many were small brickbuildings built in the late teens and early 1920s with big hip roofs that keptcustomers dry as they gassed up their cars. Then the stations evolved. Somewere built in outrageous, eye- catching styles design to capture attention. The Chatham gas station was built by William D. Meyering and David L.Sutton, who both served as alderman of the 8th Ward. The full- servicestation in 1928 was a business investment, according to the NationalRegister nomination form. Shell Oil Co. leased the building, followed byMarland Refining Co. and Conoco Oil Co. Located on a two-lane street in aresidential area, the station was designed to resemble a house. The brick gasstation has a gabled canopy, arched doorways, limestone coping and Missiontiles, not unlike the homes that surround it. "It was always an attractivebuilding that kind of stood out in your memory because it seems soincongruous that something with the function of a service station would bebuilt to match the area's architecture," said Yvonne Polk, the building'sowner. Gas station design continued to evolve for more than 30 years. Clarkstations dabbled in architectural modernism with slanted roofs and glasswalls in the 1950s. Texaco stations were sleeked up with shiny enameledsteel panels. But the passage of time also brought design standardization. The advent of the self-service station and the "quickie mart" - replacing the

 

service bays - created a generation of look-alike, feel-alike buildings. "Therewere some amazing gas stations," said Timothy Samuelson, curator of architecture at the Chicago Historical Society. "I remember there was one at Touhy avenue and Western that was designed to look like a pagoda. And onthe hour, it would make the sound of a gong chiming. Now there's a BakersSquare there." Polk purchased the Chatham gas station 20 years ago whenits previous owners closed the businesses. She never managed to reopen thebuilding. National Register status could bring historic federal tax credits thatcan be used to assist the cost of restoring the building, but the trick,according to Polk, is finding a use for the structure once it is saved. "Peoplehave constantly approached me in terms of buying the facility," said Polk,who sought National Register status. "I asked them, `What do you want to dowith it?' Much of the time it's replication of what we already have in thecommunity: barbershops and fruit stands. "I've always wanted to dosomething community-oriented with it," she said. "(My ideas) have includingthings like turning it into a community radio station - which didn't go veryfar. I approached Amoco with the possibility of running a model alternativegas station - compressed natural gas was popular at the time - but it neverhappened. I'm still interested in keeping it within the transportation context." The Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council will study the case for landmarkingthe Chatham gas station during a June 11 meeting. If the council gives thego-ahead, the measure goes to the state's historic preservation officer.Approval there would make the station a virtual lock for National Registerstatus. "We owe it to history to do this," Polk said. E-mail: scoopbey@aol.com

Copyright 1999 Chicago Sun-Times

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