Posted on 08/08/2008 9:55:49 AM PDT by DManA
CLOQUET — Business as usual for the R.W. Lindholm Service Station can mean a lot of different things.
To most, it’s just like any other service station: You go there to get gas, have your oil changed or maybe get your car fixed.
Others see it differently. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1958, the station, which sits at the intersection of state Highway 33 and Cloquet Avenue, is regularly visited by history buffs in search of the famous architect’s work. The Frank Lloyd Wright gas station Thursday morning in Cloquet during the 50th anniversary celebration of the completion of Wright’s work. [CLINT AUSTIN / NEWS TRIBUNE] The Frank Lloyd Wright gas station Thursday morning in Cloquet during the 50th anniversary celebration of the completion of Wright’s work. [CLINT AUSTIN / NEWS TRIBUNE] RELATED CONTENT Duluth News Tribune Web Icon Lindholm family shares story of working with Wright Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the completion of Wright’s work. To celebrate, the service portion of the station was shut down for the day so free public tours of the station could be given, bringing more people to the station for its history than its services.
On an average summer day, six to 12 people visit, sometimes from out of state, just to photograph the station, said Chris Chartier, who co-runs the station with his brother, Terry.
“You would be amazed by the amount of people that come and look at us,” Chris Chartier said. “It doesn’t really do a lot for us, but you take that with being in a Frank Lloyd Wright building.”
But even for this building, business these past couple of months has been anything but usual. They’ve been hustling to restore the building for its anniversary celebration, which was held throughout the day on Thursday.
It’s not that the building hasn’t been taken care of, but 50 years of gas, oil and graffiti had taken a toll on Wright’s original vision for the station.
To get it back to par, Best Oil, the company that owns the building, spent $150,000 to restore it.
“We kept it up to some degree, but it needed a total paint job and a good cleaning,” said Mike McKinney, co-owner of Best Oil. “A little bit here and there. You had to have seen it six months ago to appreciate how bad it was.”
Fixtures, floors and chairs were painstakingly cleaned and brought to their original grandeur. New gas pumps were required to keep the station up to code, but when shopping for them McKinney tried to pick out pumps that fit with the station’s design.
To be totally restored, McKinney says the building would require $400,000 worth of work.
“I think a testament to Wright’s work is that this was used as a station with heavy, heavy use for 50 years and it’s still in relatively good shape. It’s really maintained,” McKinney said.
As Thursday passed, the 50th anniversary over, employees of the station were ready for something resembling normal again.
“It’ll be really nice to have this party and get back to normal,” Chartier said. “We come to work to fix cars.”
Normal for the R.W. Lindholm station is hard to define, but Chartier can count on always answering a lot of questions.
“We spend a lot of time talking to people and telling them what we can,” he said. “I know about the building, but I’m not that informed about Frank Lloyd Wright.”
Chad Korby, who also works at the Lindholm station, says he typically fields a lot of standard questions about the station and its history. Sometimes his job as a service technician requires him to act more like an architectural historian.
“I’ll try to share what I know if they ask me,” Korby said. “Like if the point of the roof is actually true north or if it is an architectural design.”
Korby has become used to the dual nature of his job during the three years he has worked there, but every now and then he’ll get some questions that are just plain out there.
“There was an older guy that came in once and asked if Frank was working,” he said. “’Frank Lloyd Wright,’ I said, ‘he’s actually been in the ground for a couple of years.’ That one was pretty good.”
Wright died on April 9, 1959, less than a year after the service station was completed.
Although many are drawn to the station because of who designed it and its history, Korby also believes a lot of the business the station gets comes from older generations, remembering an era when most gas stations were full-service.
“Some people want a little bit more,” he said. “Like an old-fashioned experience where you get your gas filled, your oil checked and your windshield washed.”
Possible. IIRC, Ayn Rand and Frank Lloyd Wright were friends and corresponded regularly.
My father and Wright were good friends, I remember several occasions when he came over to the house and pleaded with my dad to do one of his projects.
I worked on his house (monstrosity) in Los Feliz and a couple of his buildings.
My sister in law lived in a house he designed in Saganaw MI.
Thanks for posting the pics. Notice they have changed the sign. Replaced the stylized 66 with a big L.
This is supposedly the last wright design build before he died. He never visited it.
Wright also designed Lindholm’s house which still exists.
Water Dome, completed in its original form in 1948, still consists of a portion of the concrete perimeter of the pool. The area was redesigned in the mid-60's because of the difficulty of maintaining the one large pool. Original fountains in the pool were also dismantled
This is so cool. I must admit that I didn't know about this gas station! I so appreciate the info.
WOW! Fantastic! When this this happen?
October of last year was when they first turned it on. I’ve only seen it during the day but it’s really cool.
The restorations have been slow, methodical and very expensive for FSU. Such a beautiful campus!
Anyone who is visiting the Chicago area should make a trip to Oak Park, IL to see Wright’s home and studio. This is where he began his career. What a genius he was. I normally don’t like modern architecture, but I love all of Wright’s designs. There’s just something special about them.
Cheers!
Neat-o!
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