Wednesday, October 28, 2009

ARCHIVED NEWS: Filling station a roadway to style of past



Worlee posted pics of this property on his Facebook page a while back and I just so happened to have found this article at HighBeam regarding this former gas station. It was in fact written by Lee Bey published on April 26, 1999 in the Sun-Times:
But a Chatham neighborhood resident and state preservation officials are seeking to save a 71-year-old gas station at 419 E. 83rd by getting it placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The shuttered and battered gas station, which was built to match the architecture of the Chatham neighborhood, is one of the few remaining "domestic style" stations in the city.

"It's very rare to see a 1920s gas station, period," said David Newton, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency's assistant National Register coordinator. "It's very amazing, I think." Gas stations began simply enough. Many were small brick buildings built in the late teens and early 1920s with big hip roofs that kept customers dry as they gassed up their cars. Then the stations evolved. Some were 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- service station in 1928 was a business investment, according to the National Register nomination form. Shell Oil Co. leased the building, followed by Marland Refining Co. and Conoco Oil Co. Located on a two-lane street in a residential area, the station was designed to resemble a house. The brick gas station has a gabled canopy, arched doorways, limestone coping and Mission tiles, not unlike the homes that surround it.

"It was always an attractive building that kind of stood out in your memory because it seems so incongruous that something with the function of a service station would be built to match the area's architecture," said Yvonne Polk, the building's owner.
...
Polk purchased the Chatham gas station 20 years ago when its previous owners closed the businesses. She never managed to reopen the building. National Register status could bring historic federal tax credits that can 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.

"People have constantly approached me in terms of buying the facility," said Polk, who sought National Register status. "I asked them, `What do you want to do with it?' Much of the time it's replication of what we already have in the community: barbershops and fruit stands. "I've always wanted to do something community-oriented with it," she said. "(My ideas) have including things like turning it into a community radio station - which didn't go very far. I approached Amoco with the possibility of running a model alternative gas station - compressed natural gas was popular at the time - but it never happened. I'm still interested in keeping it within the transportation context."
I've excerpted a lot from this article, but read the whole thing here!

I took pictures of this building on Tuesday afternoon. If this building should be preserved what do you think it should be used for ultimately?

1 comment:

  1. While I sypathize with the owners plight of wanting to sell the property which was ok when they bought it and is now an enviromental hazard I'm still not convinced that this building should be saved nor is the City of Chicago which has repeatedly turned down request to designate landmark status to this building. Also, family memebers of the owners have repeatedly attempted to open auto related businesses at this location which the community has opposed. Over the last twenty years most of the original signage and fixtures have been taken away and the building is being used as a storage facility which makes it a hazard.

    The only legitimate taker on this site has been YUM brands(KFC) who wanted to raze the building and use it as parkingas part of an expansion project to their current store at 83rd King Drive. I'm open to hearing proposals but as a neighbor and speaking for my other neighbors we are not interested in barbershops, beauty shops, convenience store and any auto related businesses. So if an interested party is willing to up the reported $350-$400,000 for the property along with removing the gas tanks let them come forward.

    ReplyDelete

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