Wednesday, July 28, 2021

UNIQUE PLACES: LAST CLAM SHELL SERVICE STATION IN WINSTON-SALEM, NC


 Photo:  Source

Atlas Obscura indicates the store is now abandoned and:

"The clamshell stations represented the transformation of a brand into a building, a symbol into a real thing. When Raymond Loewy designed the current Shell symbol in 1971, it had already gone though many incarnations. Although the original 1901 brand for the London-based Shell Transport and Trading Company was a mussel shell, by 1904 the scallop shell was introduced – possibly from the family coat of arms of the company’s founder Marcus Samuel, whose business would merge with Royal Dutch Petroleum Company to form Royal Dutch-Shell Oil. Samuel had a habit of naming his tankers after different kinds of shells, and he had a background importing objects from the Far East, including beautiful shells.

It wasn’t easy to make shell-shaped gas stations. The office and bathroom area were boxed in, surrounded by a bent wood and wire frame, and then covered in stucco. This last station remained open until the 1950s and housed a lawn mower repair business in the 1970s and 80s. In 1976, it became the first individual station in America to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places."

For the complete article and more pictures, visit Atlas Obscura 

Location:  1111 E Sprague St Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27107

No comments:

Post a Comment