This month we venture just beyond the confines of downtown Silver Spring and travel "south of the border" to the 7800 block of Georgia Avenue in Washington, D.C, just south of Eastern Avenue. On the west side of Georgia was the 1937 Gulf Oil Company gas station, a remarkable example of commercial Art Deco roadside architecture which stood for over half a century.

Originally referred to as a "branch station," this place became a landmark for motorists as the first gas station they encountered as they crossed from Maryland into the District of Columbia. What made the station remarkable was its unique Zig-Zag Moderne architectural design, made of polychromed terra cotta tiles.

Running along the top edge of the building (as seen in this 1947 Silver Spring: Then image) was a continuous band of chevrons in an alternating blue and yellow pattern. Over its windows, doors, and three service bays (conveniently labeled WASHING, TIRES, and LUBRICATION in blue letters) were cream-colored medallions flanked by blue foliage, with each arrangement separated by differently-rendered yellow foliage. The circular "Gulf" sign, rendered in navy blue letters on an orange background, can be seen just behind the light pole. Overhead are power lines for the DC Transit streetcars, the terminus of the Georgia Avenue line being just around the corner on Eastern Avenue.

You might wonder how these color schemes can be ascertained from a black and white snapshot. Well, this station was not unique. The nationally-known Dunkle’s Gulf, located in Bedford, Pa. and constructed in 1933, is a single-service-bay version of the Georgia Avenue station. Aficionados of roadside architecture have long journeyed to Bedford to marvel at this Art Deco jewel, perhaps one of the last remaining operating gas stations of its kind in the United States. Author/photographer John Baeder wrote eloquently of Dunkle’s in his landmark paean to roadside architecture, Gas, Food and Lodging: A Postcard Odyssey Through the Great American Roadside, which illustrates the station in color.

The first Gulf station was built in Pittsburgh in 1913. Prior to that, gas pumps, which had been around since only 1905, were installed in every conceivable location. They could be found at lumber yards, feed stores, parking lots, fruit stands, and restaurants. Little attempt was made to protectively site pumps or to design separate structures for attracting motorists and providing facilities and amenities. A 1928 image in the Silver Spring Historical Society archives shows two Gulf pumps standing almost on Georgia Avenue in front of what today is the AAMCO at 8129 Georgia Avenue.

By 1937, when the Georgia Avenue station was fully open for business, Gulf Oil had approximately 26 stations in the District. Business notices appearing in the Washington Post during the 1930s mention other Gulf stations in the District featuring polychromed tiles. P.R.L. Hogner, Gulf’s Pittsburgh-based chief architect, oversaw the plans for the 1936 Embassy Gulf station, located at 22nd and P streets NW. This station, designed in the Neoclassical style to mimic the dignity and stature of courthouses, libraries, and banks, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Little else is known about the Georgia Avenue Gulf station. In a June 19, 1980 Washington Post article, station owner Art Mitchell lamented the fact that he would probably lose customers with the District gas tax increase scheduled to go into effect that August. The Amoco station located just across Georgia–in Maryland–would be able to charge four to eight cents a gallon less than what he could charge.

Sometime around 1990, the Gulf station closed and was demolished. In 1996 developer Douglas Jemal opened Jemal’s Mini Mall on the site. This rather bland brick, gabled structure, seen in the Silver Spring: Again image, is the first thing motorists encounter on this prominent corner location. Comprised of seven businesses, customers can now find catering services, pharmaceuticals, industrial supplies, deli food, and banking services, where gas, tires, oil, and lubes were proffered for over five decades.

If you can share with the Silver Spring Historical Society any photographs or memorabilia of the Georgia Avenue Gulf station (or other stations of this design), or have contact information for its owner, Art Mitchell, please contact the SSHS at sshistory@yahoo.com, phone 301.565.2519, or write SSHS, PO Box 1160, Silver Spring, MD 20910-1160. Our web site is www.sshistory.org. Future historians will thank you!