flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Frank Lloyd Wright's posthumous gas station opens in Buffalo

Frank Lloyd Wright's posthumous gas station opens in Buffalo

This never built design is like a time-capsule that preserved the enthusiasm and optimism for cars in early 20th century United States.


By BD+C Staff | July 8, 2014
Photos courtesy of the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum
Photos courtesy of the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum

A fireplace in a gas station – imagine getting a permit to build something like that today. But that is exactly what legendary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright thought up for a gas station he designed more than half a century ago, and that was exactly what was built in the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum in Buffalo, New York, for public viewing.

The gas station was intended for creation in Buffalo at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Cherry Street, Architizer reports. From the two gas stations Wright designed, only the one in Cloquet, Minnesota was built, also posthumously in 1965.

Check out this special report from Buffalo local news station WIVBTV.

 

The gas station embodies American modernism as coined by Wright, and is not short of the early 20th century enthusiasm for cars. The station’s architecture is anchored by a large set of stairs that lead to a second-story observation room for customers to wait as their vehicles are serviced. It has a fireplace, restrooms, a copper roof ad two 45-foot poles that Wright referred to as totems.

For more information, visit the museum’s official website.

Related Stories

| Jan 13, 2015

Steven Holl unveils design for $450 million redevelopment of Houston's Museum of Fine Arts

Holl designed the campus’ north side to be a pedestrian-centered cultural hub on a lively landscape with ample underground parking. 

| Jan 12, 2015

23 projects win AIA's highest architecture award

Bjarke Ingels' Danish Maritime Museum and William Rawn's Cambridge Public Library are among the winning projects.

| Jan 9, 2015

Santiago Calatrava talks with BBC about St. Nicholas Church on Ground Zero

Calatrava reveals that he wanted to retain the “tiny home” feel of the original church building that was destroyed with the twin towers on 9/11.

| Jan 9, 2015

Nonresidential construction hiring surges in December 2014

The U.S. construction industry added 48,000 jobs in December, including 22,800 jobs in nonresidential construction, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary estimate released Jan. 9. 

| Jan 9, 2015

10 surprising lessons Perkins+Will has learned about workplace projects

P+W's Janice Barnes shares some of most unexpected lessons from her firm's work on office design projects, including the importance of post-occupancy evaluations and having a cohesive transition strategy for workers.

| Jan 9, 2015

Technology and media tenants, not financial companies, fill up One World Trade Center

The financial sector has almost no presence in the new tower, with creative and media companies, such as magazine publisher Conde Nast, dominating the vast majority of leased space.

| Jan 8, 2015

Microsoft shutters classic clipart gallery: Reaction from a graphic designer

Microsoft shut down its tried-and-true clipart gallery, ridding the world not only of a trope of graphic design, but a nostalgic piece of digital design history, writes HDR's Dylan Coonrad.

| Jan 8, 2015

The future of alternative work spaces: open-access markets, co-working, and in-between spaces

During the past five years, people have begun to actively seek out third places not just to get a day’s work done, but to develop businesses of a new kind and establish themselves as part of a real-time conversation of diverse entrepreneurs, writes Gensler's Shawn Gehle.

Smart Buildings | Jan 7, 2015

NIBS report: Small commercial buildings offer huge energy efficiency retrofit opportunities

The report identifies several barriers to investment in such retrofits, such as the costs and complexity associated with relatively small loan sizes, and issues many small-building owners have in understanding and trusting predicted retrofit outcomes.

| Jan 7, 2015

University of Chicago releases proposed sites for Obama library bid

There are two proposed sites for the plan, both owned by the Chicago Park District in Chicago’s South Side, near the university’s campus in Hyde Park, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Warehouses

California bill would limit where distribution centers can be built

A bill that passed the California legislature would limit where distribution centers can be located and impose other rules aimed at reducing air pollution and traffic. Assembly Bill 98 would tighten building standards for new warehouses and ban heavy diesel truck traffic next to sensitive sites including homes, schools, parks and nursing homes.



halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021