In 2019, The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright was added to the List of UNESCO-Designated World Heritage Sites. Although some may question the practicality and maintainability of some of Wright’s designs, no one can question the imaginative artistry of his work.
As for me, I always keep an eye out for Wright’s work while on a road trip and have featured many of his buildings in several different posts within this BLOG (just enter Frank Lloyd Wright in the Search Box). And finally last month, my little dog Sparky and I made it to the one-and-only Wright-designed Gas Station that was ever constructed. It’s in Cloquet, Minnesota (about 25 miles west of Duluth), and needless to say, Cloquet has been on my radar scope since reading about the gas station over ten years ago.
The R.W. Lindholm Service Station opened in 1958, just a year before Wright died in 1959 at the age of 91, and is still in use today. Wright had designed a gas station earlier in his career for an auto-centric decentralized urban community that he envisioned in the 1930s called Broadacre City. Since that project never got off the ground, Wright approached R.W. Lindholm about building a gas station soon after designing his 1952 residence.
Although the gas station is no longer in the Lindholm family hands, it still functions as a full service gas station and was very active when Sparky and I walked around. There were even several other people stopping long enough to get a picture of the station. It definitely is unique!
