The Amazing Architectural Evolution of the Filling Station

Gas stations might be boring or even ugly places, but for the most part, you can’t avoid stopping by one on a long trip. However, they have been so many more beyond the basic design of columns, roof and shop over their history.

The following 60+1 filling stations encompass almost a century of architectural progression, showcasing some of the best Art Deco, Bauhaus, futurist, brutalist, minimalist, modernist, Googie building designs of the motorist history. Enjoy the ride!
Lawrence’ filling station in Clapham, south London, 1921.

Image: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

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A rural petrol station with a cosy waiting room in Colnbrook, England, 1927.

Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Ragsdale and Hansen’s Station No. 1., with a touch of Art Deco. Los Angeles, California, ca.1920-1929.

Image: USCDL

Gilmore Oil Company’s Blu-Green gas station. Los Angeles, California, ca.1920-1929.

Image: USCDL

A motorist refueling his Renault car at a bucolic Shell filling station at Blashford, Hampshire, England, 1930.

Image: Fox Photos/Getty Images

Art Deco service station and showroom. Norment Motor Co., Inc., Lumberton, N. C. ca. 1930–1945.

Image: Boston Public Library

Geo. W. Wilcox, Inc., 100 Federal St., Greenfield, Massachusetts, ca. 1930–1945.

Image: Boston Public Library

Roarin’ Rohrer’s Streamline Moderne gas station, McAlester, Oklahoma, ca. 1930–1945.

Image: Boston Public Library

An Art Deco Liberty Gasoline service station, Southern California, 1931.

Image: USCDL

A new hacienda style Union Oil gas station, Southern California, 1932.

Image: USCDL

Gasoline Mosque: an Union Oil Service station with strong Islamic influence. North Alexandria Avenue & Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, 1932.

Image: USCDL

Moorish touch: Beacon Oil Company Gas Station, 107 Winn Street, Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

Image: Library of Congress

Lighthouse mixed with Mexican style. Union Oil station, Southern California, 1933

Image: USCDL

Shell gas station in Raleigh, North Carolina, built in the late 1930s by the Quality Oil Company.

Image: Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress

A beautifully restored Art Deco Conoco gasoline station in Shamrock, Texas. (Built in 1936.)

Image: Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress

The Skovshoved Tankstation is a functionalist style gas station in Skovshoved, Denmark, designed by Arne Jacobsen, opened in 1936.

Image: © Villy Fink Isaksen, Wikimedia Commons, License cc-by-sa-3.0

‘Auto Palace’ service station for Texaco, in Nijmegen, Netherlands, 1936. Architects: B.J. Meerman and Johan van der Pijll.

Image: Paul van Galen/Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed

The legendary Fiat Tagliero, a Futurist-style service station in Asmara, Eritrea. Designed by the Italian architect Giuseppe Pettazzi, completed in 1938.

Image: sailko/Wikimedia Commons

A little Bauhaus gem: Shell self-service gas station near Purkersdorf, Austria, c1940.

Image: Muzeum Antikvarium

An Art Deco Gilmore gas station, Los Angeles, California, c1940.

Image: USCDL

Art Deco Union Oil station, c1940.

Image: 76

Streamline Moderne: Richfield gas station in Redding, California, 1942.

Image: Russell Lee/Library of Congress

Firestone filling station, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1942.

Image: John Vachon/Library of Congress

A motorist refuelling his Standard Vanguard at a rural Shell petrol station in Eastbourne, East Sussex, 1949.

Image: William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Getty Images

The Italian art of steel and reinforced concrete: Aquila service station, Sesto San Giovanni (MI), Italy, 1949. Architect: Aldo Favini.

Image: Fondazione Favini

Another Streamline Moderne beauty: a Guul filling station, United States, c1950

Image: George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images

A YPF (Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales) gas station in Chacarita, Buenos Aires, 1951.

Image: Archivo General de la Nación (AGN)/Wikimedia Commons

A beautiful futuristic petrol station, Piazzale Accursio, Milan, Italy. Designed by architect Mario Bacciocchi, 1954.

Image: Aldo Ballo/alessandromenini.it

Designed by German architect professor, Walter Haemer, this Dea service station has a roof that is suspended on steel ropes hanging from concrete arch. Hannover, Germany, 1956.

Image: AP

Agip service station, Moncalieri, Italy, 1958

Image: ENI

Agip service station, San Donato Milanese, Italy, 1958

Image: ENI

Agip service station, Cerignola, Italy, 1958

Image: ENI

Purfina service station, Arnhem, Netherlands, 1958

Image: Hans Pies/GVNL

Agip service station on state highway 16, Barletta, Italy, 1959

Image: ENI

Nice hyperboloid structure: a 90-ton reinforced concrete roof at a National service station in Retford, England, 1961.

Image: AP

Carousel or gas station? Turnbull’s self-service petrol station in Plymouth, Devon, 1963.

Image: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A forward leaning steel structure. Alamo gas station, Serape Belt, East Los Angeles, 1964.

Image: Ellis R. Bosworth/AP

Pegasus gas station. Designed by Elliot Noyes for Mobil, 1964.

Image: Detroit Public Library

The Sinclair Super Service Station was built exclusively for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair.

Image: Sinclair Oil

Screencaps: Sinclair Oil

A Googie architecture masterpiece: the Jack Colker Union 76 gas station in Beverly Hills, designed by William Pereira (Gin Wong Associates), 1965.

Another Googie gem: Orbit gas station, Sacramento, 1960s. Space age design at its best!

Brutalist beauty: Milan Mihelič Gas station Petrol, Ljubljana, 1968.

Image: Démodé postcards//Démodé postcards

The modernist flying saucer of Council Plaza, St. Louis, 1968. Architects: Schwarz & Van Hoefen. It was originally a Phillips 66 gas station.

Image: Paul Sableman

Fueling station with reinforced concrete roof, Baghdad, Iraq (built c1970).

Image: 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Public Affairs

Wing shaped concrete roof on a gas station in Baghdad, Iraq (built c1970).

Image: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images

A modern and colorful AGIP station, somewhere in Italy, 1972.

Image: Fortean

EP Southbank Service Station, London, 1973.

Image: Evening Standard/Getty Images

The ugliest yet most popular gas station design, you can see everywhere beside the roads nowadays.

Image: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Repsol Service Stations, Spain, designed by architect Norman Foster, 1997.

Image: Repsol

A futuristic PetroChina gas station in Wuhai, China, 2004.

Image: Greg Baker/Getty Images

The neo-futurist Helios House, Los Angeles, designed by Office dA in Boston and Johnston Marklee Architects in Los Angeles, built in 2007.

Image: Collins

21st century modern: A1 Gas Station, Madrid, Spain. Designed by Moneo-Brock, 2007.

Image: Moneo-Brock

Eco station with photovoltaic roof: Acciona service station, Legarda, Spain. Designed by ah asociados, 2007.

Image: José Manuel Cutillas/ah asociados

Norwegian wood: Statoil gas station, Hommelstø, Velfjord, Norway, 2008.

Image: Johan Arnt Groven/Wikimedia Commons

Litro Premium Gas Station by Eight Inc. for Rompetrol, Bucharest, Romania, 2009.

Image: Eight Inc.

United Oil Gasoline Station, Los Angeles, California. Designed by Kanner Architects, 2009.

Image: United Pacific

Gazoline Petrol Station, Cuneo, Italy, by architects Duilio Damilano and Alberto Pascale, 2011.

Image: Duilio Damilano/Archilovers

Gas Station designed by Adam Jirkal & Jerry Koza (Atelier SAD), Slovakia, Matúškovo, 2011.

Image: Atelier SAD

Fuel Station + McDonald’s, Batumi, Georgia, by Giorgi Khmaladze Architects, 2012-13.

Image: Giorgi Khmaladze

Esposende Gas Station by Caldeira Figueiredo Arquitectos, Esposende, Portugal, 2013.

Image: Caldeira Figueiredo

And the future is here: Tesla-Supercharger-station, Aosta, Italy.

Image: id metalco