The R. W. Lindholm Service Station is a service station designed by

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

and located in

Cloquet, Minnesota Cloquet ( ) is a city in Carlton County, Minnesota, United States, at the junction of Interstate 35 and Minnesota State Highway 33. Part of the city lies within the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation and serves as one of the reservation's three admi ...

, United States. Built in 1958 and still in use, it is the only station built to a Wright design during his lifetime. It was originally part of Wright's utopian

Broadacre City Broadacre City was an urban or suburban development concept proposed by Frank Lloyd Wright throughout most of his lifetime. He presented the idea in his book ''The Disappearing City'' in 1932. A few years later he unveiled a very detailed twelve- ...

plan and is one of the few designs from that plan that was actually implemented. The building is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

History

Wright had designed station owner Ray Lindholm's house in 1952 and, knowing Lindholm worked in the oil business, presented him with a proposal to design the gas station envisioned as part of Broadacre City. Lindholm seized the opportunity to beautify gas station design, and Wright completed his design in 1956. The station ultimately cost $20,000 – roughly four times the cost of the average filling station at the time. The station opened in 1958 under Lindholm's name; it later became a Phillips 66 station. Its construction was only a partial success for Wright, as his vision of the gas station as a social center never took hold. However, Phillips 66 incorporated several of the gas station's design elements, particularly the triangular cantilevered canopy, in later gas stations. The station was added to the

on September 11, 1985, for its architectural significance. As of 2014, it operates under the

Spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

brand. In 2018, the grandchildren of Ray Lindholm sold the gas station to Minneapolis real estate developer and entrepreneur Andrew Volna.

Design

In his original plans for Broadacre City, Wright designed his service stations to be community social centers and an integral part of his utopian ideas. His design of the Lindholm Service Station reflects these plans and represents a then-unconventional approach to filling station design. A

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

canopy extends over the gas pumps; the angular end of the canopy points to the St. Louis River, a feature Wright intended to symbolically connect river transport to the automobile. While Wright had planned to install overhead gas pumps suspended from the canopy to add space, local safety regulations compelled him to install conventional ground-based pumps. Beneath the canopy is an observation lounge with glass walls, originally intended to be the social center envisioned in the Broadacre City plans. The station's service bays are built from stepped cement blocks; the stepping, as well as the recessed mortar between the rows of blocks, provides a horizontal element to the building. Skylights allow sunlight into the service bays. Despite the importance of gas stations to the Broadacre City concept, the building was the only Wright-designed service station built in his lifetime. Another service station designed by Wright is part of the Pierce-Arrow Museum in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

; while he designed the station in 1927, it was not built until 2013.

References

* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, (S.414)

External links

Photograph of a model of Wright's service station that became the Lindholm Service station. Photograph taken in the 1920s

Photograph of the expanded model of Wright's service station that became the Lindholm Service station. Photograph taken in the 1920s

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindholm, R. W., Service Station 1958 establishments in Minnesota Buildings and structures in Carlton County, Minnesota Commercial buildings completed in 1958 Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Gas stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Carlton County, Minnesota Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Cloquet, Minnesota Transportation in Carlton County, Minnesota