Up until last week, the somewhat counterintuitive genre of the beautiful, high-design filling stations included only one by hugely influential organic architect Frank Lloyd Wright, but that he designed them shouldn't come as a huge surprise. Even though Wright is better known for creations like Taliesin West, he can also count prefab homes, row houses, and office towers among his built works. Now, thanks to the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum, a gas station Wright designed in 1927 has been realized nearly 90 years after the fact.
As of last Friday, the two-story Buffalo Filling station is on display at the Pierce-Arrow, where it will remain a permanent installation, showing off the observation deck, copper roof, and pair of 45-foot rooftop "totems" that Wright came up with for Buffalo motorists. According to the museum, the deck was for standing and catching the view while your tank was filled up via a hanging set of pumps, which, this being Wright, naturally hang below a set of lantern-esque sculptural casings. Check out this recreated attraction—which apparently even has a fireplace on the inside—in the gallery below:
· Frank Lloyd Wright-Designed Filling Station Finally Built in Buffalo, New York [A/N Blog via 6sqft]
· All Frank Lloyd Wright coverage [Curbed National]
· All Buffalo, N.Y. coverage [Curbed National]