interesting... an indoor gas station... drive through. Must have been hell with the exhaust back then, relatively inefficient engines, and no catalytic converters... . thanks Robert!
Theres a few buildings like this still around Chicago. A small corner stand alone room as you can see to the right, and the rest of the building to the left. Above it is a full floor. It's like a drive through or an internal vestibule in one corner. Note the shadow of the photographer. I've always assumed it's a way to use space when you can't have the loading dock on the side of the building.
In the twenties when this photo was taken most cars in urban areas were stored in commercial parking garages and soon the servicing and fueling was done there too for convenience and to add a revenue stream for the garage owner. These pumps pictured were likely almost exclusively used by the service employees and there wasn't a stream of random cars going through to make it hard to breathe. This is also why to this day we refer to our auto repair facilities as "the garage" - "Honey, the car isn't running right. Can you take it to the garage and have it looked at?"
Theres a few buildings like this still around Chicago. A small corner stand alone room as you can see to the right, and the rest of the building to the left. Above it is a full floor. It's like a drive through or an internal vestibule in one corner. Note the shadow of the photographer. I've always assumed it's a way to use space when you can't have the loading dock on the side of the building.
ReplyDeleteAnd with two huge doors, probably good ventilation. Isn't Chicago called "The Windy City"?
ReplyDeleteGlad you are finding a lot of material at the group.
ReplyDeleteIn the twenties when this photo was taken most cars in urban areas were stored in commercial parking garages and soon the servicing and fueling was done there too for convenience and to add a revenue stream for the garage owner. These pumps pictured were likely almost exclusively used by the service employees and there wasn't a stream of random cars going through to make it hard to breathe. This is also why to this day we refer to our auto repair facilities as "the garage" - "Honey, the car isn't running right. Can you take it to the garage and have it looked at?"
ReplyDelete