  Richie Member Username: Richie Post Number: 54 Registered: 08-2007 |
I spotted this former Standard Oil station in Grosse Pointe Park the weekend of the 4th. Not sure why I never noticed it before but it appears to have been a used car dealer recently and about to be renovated for some other use. It seems to be of a similar style used around the state. No two are exactly and the "tower" on the GPP station is kind of strange but makes this the most elaborate of Standard Oils standard designs I have come across to far. The Port Huron station has been completely restored by Acheson Ventures http://www.achesonventures.com/home.asp and used as a visitor center for their project along the St Clair River. (The building in the background has since been demolished) The Dearborn station was bulldozed about three years ago. The Pontiac station had it's letters and logos chiseled off and was probably covered over for years which is probably why I saw this one day on a road I had been on numerous times and never seen it before. The Pontiac picture is from about two years ago and the station has probably been refurbished by now. The others are used for non gas station purposes. There is another in Monroe that I have not made a decent picture of yet. Probably a bunch more out there too that I do not know of.  Grosse Pointe Park - July 5, 2008  Grosse Pointe Park - July 5, 2008  Grosse Pointe Park - July 5, 2008  Port Huron - November 3, 2001  Port Huron - November 3, 2001  Pontiac - February 26, 2006  Dearborn - May 13, 2001  Sturgis - May 26, 2002  Coldwater - February 9, 2002 | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 5168 Registered: 02-2005 |
Nice photos. I believe it was an indepedant auto repair shop up until a year or two ago. I certainly hope it can be re-used. It is a gem of a pre-war gas station and I've been enjoying how downtown GPP has avoided the trend of veneer-covered neo-traditional bank braches, etc. There's something old, crusty, and great about the area which this station is part of. There are some more old gas stations in the area. One on Mack Ave. at Gray (before Conner), I believe, and that tiny old structure at Kercheval and Cadieux in Grosse Pointe. | ||
Rrl Member Username: Rrl Post Number: 995 Registered: 12-2003 |
Nice work Richie. I own a rental home about 7 doors away from the GPP station, and I hope this quirky little place stays as part of the neighborhood in one way or another. I always thought it would be sort of cool as a diner/cafe w/ the big overhead doors rolling up and opening the dining area to a nice large landscaped patio towards Kercheval (although I'll admit that eating food served in a former gas station doesn't sound like the most appealing idea). You should take a look at the Detroit Gas station thread over in the HOF section, this fits in nicely. https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/6790/93948.html?12169207 55 | ||
Alan55 Member Username: Alan55 Post Number: 2000 Registered: 09-2005 |
What is even more difficult, Rrl, is the potential the new owner would have of perhaps remediating the ground around the old station after decades of oil and gas seepage from leaky old tanks. People who renovate old stations into flower shops or donut shops are taking an awful business risk because of it. | ||
Jazzfan Member Username: Jazzfan Post Number: 16 Registered: 07-2008 |
Richie, There's another one (since converted ) up on Charlevoix, about two or three blocks away. Can't remember what the cross street is, but it in the Cabbage Patch. | ||
Ronaldj Member Username: Ronaldj Post Number: 34 Registered: 01-2007 |
I believe Jazzfan is referring to the station on Charlevoix and Lakepointe. It is being used as a drum instruction studio associated with Guitar Union. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 7807 Registered: 10-2003 |
You used to see Standard signs at Amoco's around town when I was younger. Either the actual sign on the pole was still there, or there was a ghost image somewhere. | ||
Waxx Member Username: Waxx Post Number: 300 Registered: 09-2006 |
Richie, nice shots! Here's some I did last year. http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/1209712572/ in/set-72157601615276769/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/1209713166/ in/set-72157601615276769/ Would be nice if BP ran this old-school Egyptian-style station in the community. I remember the old Amoco on the hill on Kercheval in GP. http://www.flickr.com/photos/t heblacklightstudio/1372788339/ in/set-72157601615276769/ I regret not having a before picture (didn't have a decent camera at the time). | ||
Boynamedsue Member Username: Boynamedsue Post Number: 49 Registered: 03-2005 |
the 5/3 third bank on Kercheval in your picture is a new structure about 2 years old. The gas station that there was completely torn down... | ||
Luckycar Member Username: Luckycar Post Number: 87 Registered: 02-2007 |
I think the Pontiac station is a law office now.There is another on the corner of Oakland and Montcalm.The Standard sign got exposed when that storm blew thru last month.I'll try to take a pic. | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 2380 Registered: 12-2005 |
Quote: "the 5/3 third bank on Kercheval in your picture is a new structure about 2 years old. The gas station that there was completely torn down..." Jeez, I thought Mansard roofs went out with platform shoes and pet rocks. | ||
Richie Member Username: Richie Post Number: 55 Registered: 08-2007 |
Looks like I will have to make a couple treks to add the one at Charlevoix & Lakepointe and the one at Oakland and Montcalm to my photo collection! The toxins issue I feel is way overblown, especially considering it is not a problem for people already working there but becomes a problem when the building is sold. Kind of like the cops writing up a muscle car/hot rod for a loud exhaust but a Harley is not a problem, sort of a double standard. That place would be a great reuse for many purposes. I've seen old gas stations used for gift shops, antique shops, coffee shops, pizza places (Charlotte's Fuel Pizza chain started in one) and have as many possibilities as one can imagine. Attached is a link to a restored one in Lafayette, Indiana. So far one of the few Standard Oil stations of this style outside Michigan that I know about: http://www.ohiobarns.com/other sites/gas/in/gas14-79-standard .html | ||
Jazzfan Member Username: Jazzfan Post Number: 17 Registered: 07-2008 |
56packman, It's a fake retro building. I grew up about 4 blocks from there and used to stop in and use to coke machine on my way home from school. They completely tore down the original structure--which wasn't anything that special. | ||
Richie Member Username: Richie Post Number: 56 Registered: 08-2007 |
Waxx, from the look of your picture it would seem nothing has been done to this place in the year since you took your photograph and when I took mine. The pile in the foreground of my photo is a rolled up old chain link fence with wood posts, this seems to be the only difference. Was the bank you show a conversion or a new building as someone suggested? The Comerica on Maple and Chesterfield in Birmingham was a former bank and is recognizable as such. Salvadore Scalapini also in Birmingham too was a former gas station although with an addition where the pumps used to be. | ||
Eastsidedame Member Username: Eastsidedame Post Number: 439 Registered: 12-2006 |
56packman: Real Second Empire structures are pretty rare in Detroit, it proportion to, say, Craftsman or Arts & Crafts. Not all are great, but true SEs are art, as well as architecture. More interesting to look at then some of the brutalist horrors going up in cities now. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 7146 Registered: 08-2004 |
Exactly Eastsidedame, 56packman (whom I've had the pleasure to meet) sticks mainly to the west side (like Jjaba). He appears to not like the "historicized" Grosse Pointe new "Third Empire" structures...  Mansard roofs and Palladian windows are alive and well in new Grosse Pointe architecture!   Arguably America's finest true Second Empire structures would be Philadelphia City Hall and the Old Executive Office Building next to the White House. And the finest Second Empire theatre would probably be Wilmington Delaware's Opera House. | ||
Waxx Member Username: Waxx Post Number: 303 Registered: 09-2006 |
Same building, last I saw, Richie. I haven't noticed any significant changes as of yet. | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 504 Registered: 09-2004 |
There is another old Standard Oil service station on the old Chicago Road (US-12) in Coldwater. Great shots. I was real bummed when the Dearborn station came down a couple years back. | ||
Guideboat Member Username: Guideboat Post Number: 31 Registered: 02-2008 |
Greenfield Village looked at possibly purchasing the building in Dearborn, but moving and re-installation costs were prohibitive. What really bugs me is the new station is a rehash of the original. It just seems as though they could have done some creative rearranging to use the old station and redo the lot to make it more user friendly. | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1355 Registered: 11-2006 |
Is the GPP Standard station at Beaconsfield and Kercheval? | ||
Suma Member Username: Suma Post Number: 10 Registered: 11-2007 |
I miss the quirky old gas station that used to be at Alter and Mack. Torn down now. And yes the GPP Standard Station is at Beaconsfield and Kercheval. | ||
Otter Member Username: Otter Post Number: 254 Registered: 12-2007 |
The Standard Oil station at Lakepointe and beaconsfield is very nice. I lived half a block down the street until I moved a month ago. Unfortunately the big, beautiful tree that was on the eastern edge of the property was cut down by the property owner in a fit of pettiness as sort of a vindictive gesture towards the homeowner on the east side. I don't know what the plans, if any, for the sapce are. | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1358 Registered: 11-2006 |
Thanks, Suma. I lived on Wayburn and then Lakepointe my first 19 years of life, so I should've known for sure that that was it but it never made any impression on me when I was young. Now it does. Too cool! Also, there was a pay phone booth in front of it on Kercheval and for a while there was a pervy guy who would call it whenever we would walk by to school. Of course we would pick up the ringing phone and he would breath heavy or say things, whatever. I bet he lived across the street upstairs of the stores. I'll never forget that. We never made a big deal out of it, just thought, "jeez, there are some scary people out there". Thanks again, Suma. | ||
Richie Member Username: Richie Post Number: 68 Registered: 08-2007 |
I stopped off yesterday on my home to take a few pix of the Monroe Standard station. So now you see! Believe it or not, this one is still being used as a service station. It just doesn't sell gas. A peak inside shows it to be complete and up to date and the office section containing a lot of oil related antiquities.   | ||
Gtat44 Member Username: Gtat44 Post Number: 178 Registered: 02-2007 |
The old Standard station on Kercheval and Beaconsfield was my brother Kevins' shop KC Automotive. He was forced out by high rent and the economy. When times get bad people work on their own vehicles. He had a booming business for quite a few years sometimes up to 20 cars in that lot waiting to be fixed. Using his own money he brought all of the building back to original. I live in Indiana, but as far as I now if you look in side you can still see the black and white tile he laid down. He also brought back the bathroom to a 30's and forties look fixtures and all. Last time I was up there he even had a table and stools in there where some of the people would come in that were'nt having work done would sit and B.S. or read the paper and have a free cup of coffee. I couldn't figure how to link it up but there was an article in the Det.News in the My Wheels section 2/16/05 under the title Car nut melds work, hobby. I'm not sure if you can link up to it it's in my favorites and can't restore it. Maybe someone can link it here for me? |
