The Pure Oil Service Station in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

is a former

gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

for the Pure Oil Company. The historic building was recognized by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

on its

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on April 23, 2013.

History

The Pure Oil Station in

was built in 1937 on

Illinois Route 38 Illinois Route 38 is an west–east state highway that runs across northern Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 52 (US 52) in downtown Dixon to US 12/ US 20/ US 45 (Mannheim Road) in Westchester. It runs concurrently wit ...

(West State Street) at its intersection with Fifth Street. The Pure Oil Company popularized the idea of filling station buildings. Prior to the 1920s, filling stations were regarded as unappealing fire hazards and were kept away from residential areas. Pure Oil developed a cheap, attractive design in the

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

style that fit the suburban aesthetic ideal. Pure Oil's design became their corporate trademark starting in 1927. Carl August Petersen, the Chief Engineer of Marketing Construction for Pure Oil, was responsible for the design which was replicated all over the country. By 1945, there were six

s along the four blocks of downtown State Street. Only two remain—this station and an unnamed station of questionable integrity at 427 State Street. It is not a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

of the Central Geneva Historic District, but is within its physical boundaries.

Architecture

The main facade faces Illinois Route 38 to the north, and the east facade faces South Fifth Street. The exterior is brick, covered in white paint. The east section of the building serviced pedestrians and the west section serviced vehicles. The brickwork is decoratively skintled (bricks are irregularly projecting at varying degrees). The building has a steeply pitched gable roof covered with blue glazed Ludowici tile. A flat roof covers the south half of the service bays, though it is mostly hidden from view because of the pitched roof. Three brick chimneys flank the ends of the gables. Two of these chimneys have a large metal letter "P", painted white, a Pure Oil emblem.

References

External links

{{commonscat-inline Gas stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Geneva, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Kane County, Illinois Retail buildings in Illinois Transport infrastructure completed in 1937 Transportation buildings and structures in Kane County, Illinois Pure Oil