A move to redevelop a former Sinclair gas station site into a drive-thru car wash in Fort Collins has been complicated by the ruling of a local commission deeming the building historically significant.
The structure at 825 N. College Avenue is located on a commercial stretch in a mostly residential section of the city. Built in 1925, the building, according to the Fort Collins Historic Preservation Commission, is regarded as a “classic example” of what is known as the “Oblong Box style of architecture.”
According to commission documents, oblong gas stations came into prominence after “petroleum corporation executives, with their architects and industrial designers, began rethinking the function and organization of the service station.”
Such facilities, as seen with the N. College building, generally featured flat roofs, a front gable, and sometimes even a rooftop pylon.
As gas stations, beginning in the 1970s, took on other functions such as serving as convenience stores, the oblong box stations were frequently reconverted into restaurants, coffee shops, offices, and barber shops.
The N. College Avenue structure remained a Sinclair station well into the 1950s, but in recent years has been a Quick Lube outlet.
It is not clear if plans to build the car wash, which would have to incorporate the oblong box service station into its design, will be altered to reflect the commission’s ruling.
By Garry Boulard
