Gas Stations: An Illustrated History

This book explores the cultural significance of gas stations in America,from their early years to their heyday and beyond,using carefully selected historical photographs to showcase their architectural and social aspects.
Gas stations have become a cultural icon in America due to their visual appeal and widespread presence in the mid-20th century roadside landscape. This book explores their historical significance, architectural and spatial elements, and social impact, using carefully selected historical photographs from archives worldwide.

Format: Hardback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 16 October 2023
Publisher: Lannoo Publishers

The gas station's appealing visual features, combined with its ubiquitous presence in the roadside landscape of the mid-20th century, have made it, without a doubt, a genuine cultural icon in America. - Thomas Vanhaute
This book takes the reader on a photographic journey through time, telling the story of the roadside beacons of the automobile age: the gas stations. Starting from the very early years of motoring at the dawn of the 20th century, when cars would fill up at a primitive manual gas pump, to the iconic and sometimes bizarre structures of the heyday of the gas station concept in the 1930s through the 1950s. A concluding section looks at the afterlife of the disused gas station and investigates its adaptive reuse and position as built heritage within the historic urban landscape. Carefully selected and unique historical photographs from archives across the world give insight into the architectural and spatial elements of gasoline distribution, but equally look into the social aspect of the gas station, as a roadside oasis where people of all walks of life would meet, during a brief stop-over.

Weight: 1244g
Dimension: 288 x 228 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789401491679